Slashdot Mirror
When Spammers Try To Sue You
An Anonymous Coward writes: "I was looking for information about what recourse there is against spammers when I came across this site. It appears that Bernard Shifman sent email to several people trying to solcit employment via spam, and when they replied to him, asking him to stop, and reporting the spam to his ISP he threatend them with a lawsuit. It's a very entertaining read."
Anytime I get a spam, I hit the link that I received when I registered with SpamCop, and paste the email (complete with header) into the provided textbox. SpamCop processes the email, compiles a report of the offending spam, computes the appropriate reporting addresses, and delivers a copy to each one.
It even allows you to add text to the beginning of the report. I always add this: Does that make me a bad person?
--
Tsar's Hypothesis: As the population of the Earth increases, the sum of human intelligence remains constant.
Click here and then each link on the page and the advertisers gets charged the amount shown in small print. But for a permanent solution: I want to charge people who send me email. I would obviously pay back all those people who send stuff I wanted to see, and not pay back those who pissed me off. What's the chance of this happening? It would be good.
Most of the HTML:m er.html
http://www.rusnet.info/mirror/ShifmanIsAMoronSpam
Cheap UK and US VPS
MyRealBox is pretty good about stopping spam. I used to have a Hotmail account and I got more than a few pieces of spam a day. Switched to MyRealBox probably more than a year ago, and Ive only got maybe 3 or 4 pieces of spam since. Also they say they have stopped 1,303,931 pieces of spam :)
Here
Editors and posters, please take care: we're talking about Bernard Shifman (single 'f'), not any of the Bernard Shiffman's (double 'ff') out there.
As Mr Shifman seems to be highly irrascible, it's probably as well to at least get his name correct.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Oh no my dear friend, I'm afraid there ARE people out there this stupid. In some comical exchanges on a public mailing list for shopping cart software (the Miva Merchant Users list) a certain Michael Walker has managed to prove himself to be just as idiotic, litigious, and deluded about reality and his position on this planet. He's been banned a few times, always manages to pop back up and start more trouble. It provides a nice break in the day when we can all sit back and laugh at him. Evidently his past business partners have had to deal with his tirades and tantrums as well - vdo-specialties.cc is a nice satire site, whereas vdo-specialties.com is evidently his real site/business. He has illegally impersonated a lawyer, made all sorts of wild (and false/idiotic) claims, and generally proven himself to be an ass. Anyway, these kooks out there do exist .. and if you're bored then take a look at the satire site and for heaven's sake, search the archives of that mailing list for "Michael Walker" and just see what might pop up! After observing Mr. Walker from the sidelines on that mailing list, I have NO doubts in my mind that our B. Shiffman could be a real live (possibly mentally unstable) person.
Hope this doesn't get modded down too far for being posted as AC -- I think those entertained by B. Shiffman could get a kick out of this as well. But I am indeed an Anonymous Coward -- don't need any lawsuit threats! *grin*
This is the reply I last received from enforcement@sec.gov:
Dear Investor:
Thank you for taking the time to forward to us another instance of advance
fee frauds. I have fwded. it in turn to the Secret Service at:
419.fcd@usss.treas.gov.
Our only request would be that you be kind enough to forward any additional
iterations of and/or variations on the Nigerian advance fee fraud spam you
receive directly to the Secret Service. That Federal agency is handling
this matter, and it would be a great help for you to send them to the Secret
Service instead of the SEC: 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov.
Again, thanks for your e-mail.
Sincerely,
Jim Daly
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of Investor Education and Assistance
(202) 942-7173, (202) 942-9634 (fax)
oiea@sec.gov
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
Are there any groups that are actively standing out against spam and lobbying the politicians? If so, I'm ready to join, if not, I need to start one.
:)
http://www.cauce.org/
"CAUCE began as a discussion group called SPAM-LAW, which was an outgrowth of another list called SPAM-L, the Spam Prevention and Discussion List. A number of people who participated in SPAM-L felt that legislation was necessary to stop spam from choking the life out of the Internet. To keep the list topic focused, it was decided to create a separate list, the SPAM-LAW list, to discuss options on how to further legislation to prevent spam."
HTH.
Buzzzz.....
I am not affiliated with the anti-spam community! Just a bass player in a band who got his resume and chuckled about it to what used to be 20 some odd people who knew my site existed. Google grabbed it... and the rest is history. Where did he get my address from? I am surely not a company!
1. to piss off the spammer by letting him know who exactly it was that caused him to lose his website. This is very satisfying for an anti-spammer.
2. For entertainment value. Spammers very typically react exactly like this moron. It's just that Bernie appears to have taken it much further than your average kook. This is funny stuff.
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
A little search on the address the spammer uses for his consulting reveals that it's a condo. I'm surprised. I expected a mailbox place.
Are there any groups that are actively standing out against spam and lobbying the politicians? If so, I'm ready to join, if not, I need to start one.
CAUCE (Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email)
They have links from their home page to related regional organisations, including EuroCAUCE (European branch)
Was it spam? Personally, I think that Neil suffered from premature ejaculation on this one, but he didn't do anything too bad. I think that the ISP has the role of determining whether this complaint was justified and of then doing nothing or taking some action.
Presumably, if Neil's had been the only complaint, nothing would have happened.
Cthulhu Barata Nikto
- The address listed on his domain registration is over four miles from city hall (source: MapQuest.com). Granted I know nothing about Chicago's layout, but I would assume this is not in the high-rise district.
- There are no less than nine schools and nine supermarkets within the immediate vicinity of his location (source: MapQuest.com).
- In his block alone there are 164 housing units of which nearly 50% are single occupant dwellings. In addition, nearly half of the housing in that same block are rentals. (source for both: US Census for 2000)
- Again, his block alone is only about 1/4 of a mile long (source: US Census for 2000).
Now, the "suite" number listed on his domain registration is in the 400's, implying it's on the fourth floor. The fact that there even exists a unit number in the address proves it's a multi-occupant building. Taking into consideration all of the above information along with the type of work he claims to do, it's my opinion (possibly incorrect) the address listed in his domain records is most likely a single-family apartment.I seriously doubt his claims of the greatness of his career. He's probably just some wannabe compulsive liar who screwed up and refuses to bow out gracefully.
BTW, I'm not infallible (wait a minute, yes I am) so I would appreciate others checking my figures. :)
Folks, take a look at this. Mr. Shifman hasn't sued anyone for responding to his spam, and I'll wager he never will. He's made baseless threats, referring to non-existent lawyers. That's common among people who feel backed into a corner and don't understand law.
The site is mirrorred on spamflames.com. As the domain reseller for that domain, I also received a legal threat from Mr. Shifman. I have no intention of responding, and don't feel even slightly threatened by it. When I get court papers, I'll take it seriously.
Tom Geller
His web sites, here and especially here have images that are surely copyrighted.
I wonder if the copyright owner would be interested in a lawsuit?
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
"Coffee & Cat"? Haven't seen this before. Does it imply laughing so hard you spill your coffee on the cat?
Yep, that's exactly what it refers to. I've gotten a few kooky lawsuite threats too...
Actually, what's odd about the loser in question is that he spelled "lawsuit" correctly. Usually they do spell it "lawsuite".
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!