Identity fraud on domain names
As a followup to Saturday’s post when I wrote about the 3000 items of spam in one of my Gmail accounts, I’m now aware that someone is faking our domain : @syntagmamedia.com to send out spam emails.
The large number of Mailer Daemon emails we’re getting are the bounced returns from this criminal activity. Heaven knows how many are getting through.
So if you do get some strange emails purporting to be from us, consider that they are probably fake.
Martin Neumann has also been caught in this trap with his domain, theblogcolumnist.com, being used as a vehicle for similar stuff. #
Identity fraud on domain names seems to be the latest ploy and getting quite widespread.
Hey John – seems you’ve been hit too.
By all diagnostic accounts (ie: I’ve had many people offer up their expertise in trying to get to the bottom of this) it’s as you say.
Criminal activity via way of spoofing a domain. The more research I do into this I’m staggered by how widespread and easy this underground activity is to do and the tools that are freely available.
By Martin Neumann on August 14th, 2007 at 12:47 am
I’ve been plagued with this problem ever since I signed up for my first email account 10 years ago. Just about every domain I’ve owned has been spoofed. That’s why I’m elated whenever I hear of spammers getting slammed with stiff fines and jail terms.
By Deborah on August 14th, 2007 at 1:58 am
[...] Posts Referenced in the podcast: I Must Have Pissed Somebody Off – Martin Neumann Identity Fraud on domain names – John Evans Things on my mind – Robert [...]
By Isn’t the Internet fun | WinExtra on August 14th, 2007 at 6:26 am
[...] Posts Referenced in the podcast: I Must Have Pissed Somebody Off – Martin Neumann Identity Fraud on domain names – John Evans Things on my mind – Robert [...]
By Introducing the WinExtra Off The Cuff podcast | WinExtra on August 14th, 2007 at 6:35 am
Martin, I’m getting emails from others affected too. It seems to be quite widespread.
I think the word “spoof” is a bit too nice for this activity. It’s actually identity fraud at a domain level. When you have a business, as I do, they’re actually defaming the good name of that business by associating it with their underhand activities.
Let’s hope it’s out in the open now so people start discussing it on Techmeme and elsewhere. We may then get some definitive answers.
By John Evans on August 14th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Deb, this is a real problem for businesses. I’m considering whether to report it to the police here, although I doubt the local bobbies can do much about it. Scotland Yard in London though has a number of teams working on internet criminality, so maybe this will fit in somewhere.
I know the White House is very concerned at the denial of service to Estonia back in May and they’re working on new counter measures for that.
By John Evans on August 14th, 2007 at 7:46 am
Sorry about the dupe pingbacks John but I was having a slight problem with my choice of plugins for handling the posting of the podcast.
By Steven Hodson on August 14th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
No problem, Steve. Thanks for the ping.
By John Evans on August 14th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Just an FYI. I logged onto my webmail for The Writers Buzz and found hundreds of Mailer Daemon emails waiting for me. I’ve alerted my webmaster of the problem before they terminate my account. I’m going to collect mine into a pdf file and look into how to report this to the appropriate authorities.
By Deborah on August 19th, 2007 at 12:50 am
That’s a good idea. I’m still monitoring the situation. So far no repeat. But it’s obviously far more widespread than anyone thought.
By John Evans on August 19th, 2007 at 8:38 am