Fraudulent use of my domain for e-mail spam

[Raven Love]

What is the name of your state? WA

I don't know if there's anything that can be done here, but I'm burning up about it.

I have a domain name registered to me. Let's just call it mydomain.com. Some software seller is sending out massive spam e-mail to their web site and using random addresses at my domain as the return address. For example, [email protected], [email protected] I can't just block one name. What's happening is that I am being floded with many hundreds of returned e-mails from bad names on their list so I can't even use my own e-mail, not to mention destroying the name of my business by associating it with spam and most likely having the domain blocked here and there as a spammer.

I have looked at the web site, and they have no phone number, but there is a feedback form. I have left them feedback with something along the lines of:

"You are fraudulently using my domain name as the return address for spam e-mail that you are sending to advertise your web site. I insist that you cease and desist this action immediately."

I also added:

"You may continue to use my domain name if you agree to pay me $1,000.00 USD for every e-mail or returned e-mail that I receive. Additional mail will be considered agreement with the above terms." along with the date and time.

I have looked up the domain and done a whois search, but the name is protected by Shielded Whois. I have sent Shielded Whois the same message. They also provide blind e-mail address for the domain owner, and I have sent the same message to that address as well. I also sent a message to [email protected]

My question is, is there anything I can do about this? I want them to stop!

 

[davezan]

There's a chance your email is being used for "spoofing":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spoofing

E-mail spoofing is a term used to describe fraudulent email activity in which the sender address and other parts of the email header are altered to appear as though the email originated from a different source. E-mail spoofing is a technique commonly used for spam e-mail and phishing to hide the origin of an e-mail message. By changing certain properties of the e-mail, such as the From, Return-Path and Reply-To fields (which can be found in the message header), hackers can make the e-mail appear to be from someone other than the actual sender. It is often associated with website spoofing which mimic an actual, well-known website but are run by another party either with fraudulent intentions or as a means of criticism of the organisation's activities.

A technical solution is the more "immediate" way of possibly cutting that down:

http://www.openspf.org/Introduction

However, using the solution above requires a bit of technical know-how. You either learn to
do it yourself or retain a professional to do it for you.

 

[Raven Love]

Dude.....duh!

I've been an IT and network professional for over 20 years. There's not much you can do technically to stop it.

My question is, how do I legally make them stop immediately. Court injunction? How do I go about that?

They have stopped for now. Possibly my cease and desist letters did the trick, but I want to be armed if it starts again.