Spam 'n' Scam

Are you sick and tired of getting unsolicited bulk email (UBE, usually called spam), most of which is either outright fraud or advertising web sites of dubious value?

How did these people get your private email address in the first place? There are many ways:

Once your email address has been compromised, it will be added to one of the growing number email databases that are used by spammers. Then it's just a matter of sending the junk emails. This may be done through the spammer's own internet service provider (ISP) or through a third-party mail server or relay that has been configured to accept and transmit email to and from anyone. Sometimes the spammer will hijack an insecure formmail or other contact script sitting at someone's web site. Often times home computers are compromised and form one node of a botnet which is used to send spam or even host the advertised web site, all without the owner of the PC knowing about it.

Before you know it, you start getting more rubbish than you bargained for.

Whilst we have no objection to free trade on the Internet, we do not wish to pay for advertising that we did not ask to receive. Would you pay for a collect call from a telemarketer? Would you pay the postage due on junk mail coming through the letter box? No, neither would we, but one way or another, you do pay for all of those UBEs in your electronic mailbox.

Why are we being forced to pay someone else's advertising costs? And why should we allow these people to use our private email addresses without our consent?

Have You Been Spammed By Obliquity.[co.uk|com|net|org|uk]?

No, but spammers forge our domain name almost continuously on their rubbish.

Statement of Purpose

These pages are a log of the UBEs sent to us at any or all of our private email addresses since October 1998 when Obliquity went online. For all messages that manage to evade our filters, we present header information, along with details of the complaints made to and responses received from those involved. If we believe that the goods or services advertised in the message are illegal, then we alert the relevant law enforcement agencies. We offer no other comment or opinion regarding the contents of the UBEs.

Since UBEs are broadcast indiscriminately to thousands of people all over the world in order to reach the largest possible audience, they are neither private nor confidential and we regard the contents as being in the public domain.

If you spam us, you will be listed on these pages.

Some of the email addresses in these pages have been distorted to protect the innocent and their beleaguered mail servers. Many of the headers contain forged lines, so inclusion of a particular domain name on these pages does not necessarily imply that they are responsible for the accompanying UBEs. Messages are sent to most of the domains appearing in the headers and bodies so that innocent parties will be alerted to the fact that their email addresses and domain names are being abused by another.

We do not contact the spammers directly, except in the very rare instances in which we believe the sender to be a reputable businessperson who simply has made an unfortunate mistake in sending a one-off UBE. We do not regard serial spammers as innocent.

Log Book

We have managed to get the plug pulled on a number of spammers and so can you. The situation so far:

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
1998 7 6 3 16
1999 4 13 10 8 1 4 4 2 1 2 5 5 59
2000 4 5 4 3 5 2 5 6 8 17 13 10 82
2001 16 16 19 17 11 35 50 88 119 126 179 226 902
2002 305 276 466 530 525 923 1664 991 1076 1171 855 1189 9971
2003 1564 1504 2852 4022 4798 4761 36 95 15 24 24 36 19731
2004 50 54 57 82 71 111 74 80 55 73 139 157 1003
2005 162 121 205 152 195 210 263 277 234 394 259 437 2909
2006 460 391 291 170 261 210 227 201 234 343 478 455 3721
2007 159 148 112 91 58 99 181 277 618 187 300 576 2806
2008 594 644 643 220 127 115 99 64 104 52 15 8 2685
2009 18 42 14 6 17 56 15 10 11 7 3 1 200
2010 3 2 4 3 4 3 3 2 5 5 9 8 51
2011 17 10 23 24 20 8 7 8 1 5 3 10 136
2012 24 9 10 2 8 8 8 13 17 18 8 4 129
2013 3 6 8 2 6 5 39 111 85 76 47 53 441
2014 64 103 21 2 3 1 3 1 2 10 8 0 218
2015 0 0 5 2 5 2 0 0 1 4 2 19 40
2016 1 4 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22
2017 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
2018 3 0 1 0 3 3 3 5 11 20 4 4 57
2019 3 2 8 12 6 4 5 1 0 0 2 1 44
2020 5 3 0 5 0 1 5 7 0 5 5 8 44
2021 1 3 3 2 0 0 0 1 7 3 4 1 25
2022 0 2 0 1 5 4 4 5 7 12 12 9 61
2023 15 15 12 6 11 4 5 3 5 11 10 5 102
2024 4 4 8 8 6 6 8 9 11 TBA 64

In Case You're Tempted To Complain ...

Occasionally, we receive a complaint from someone who has spammed us and who is aggrieved that we have listed them on these pages. If you are such a person, we advise you to read our standard response to such complaints before threatening us with legal action or demanding compensation.

The Boulder Pledge

Coined by Roger Ebert in 1996 during the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado:

Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything offered to me as the result of an unsolicited e-mail message. Nor will I forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online community.