I've Got a Spam Problem - This Really Sucks...

[chris_surfrider]

Hey guys,

I've been using the 7Dollar Offer script for a while to sell reports and products.

It's been great, and the viral effect is phenomenal.

However, the other day I received a spam complaint from my host, saying that my domain is being "spamvertised". I looked into it and sure enough, some little prick was spamming "The conduit method" with his affiliate link.

The problem is that he didn't use a redirect - he just used a straight link which included MY domain.

I immediately blocked the link and sent him a C/D.

Since then I've also received actual user complaints, and I've since discovered that he's just been using other paypal emails (you can add "additional emails" in your paypal account too easily) and continuing his spamming.

I've been blocking every link that I can find, but really - nothing is stopping him from just generating an endless number of throwaway payment emails and persisting.

He's not making ANY sales, so hopefully he'll just stop, but it's really putting me in a bad light.

And on top of that, I now notice that most of my support tickets are landing in my Gmail's spam folder.

This leads me to believe that this little piece of ____ has actually managed to accomplish a widescale blacklisting of my domain in emails.

I can't believe this is happening.

Do you have any suggestions?

Does Rapid Action Profits has a function that can completely block affiliate activity if they are violating the rules?

Any other suggestions?

I'd really appreciate your input if you've had to deal with this before...

Thanks guys

Chris

[Brandon Tanner]

Wow Chris, that really sucks. So his link doesn't trace back to his own website? If it did you could look up his WHOIS info and contact his host. If not I would try to at least contact Paypal about this and just hope that they could get him banned.

[LB]

The problem is that it's VERY difficult to make people understand how these types of scripts work.

If he is not using his own domain, then Paypal may be the only ones who can make him stop. Warning though- Paypal could care less about spam and criminals using their service. I speak on this from experience as I've been through similar things and Paypal didn't seem to care until I involved my lawyer.

Hope it works out for you.

[Sid Hale]

Hi Chris

Originally Posted by chris_surfrider

Does Rapid Action Profits has a function that can completely block affiliate activity if they are violating the rules?

Yes - it does.

Once you discover the activity, RAP allows you to BAN the affiliate.

PLUS - you can import your 7DS sales data into a RAP system so that you retain sales history and just move forward with historical sales info consolidated.

[Jesus Perez]

Chris,

I'm sorry about what's going on.

Judging from Sid's post, ditch 7DS and get RAP. Other's may want to pay heed since this will start replicating and affecting other 7DS owners soon.

Paypal
Contact Paypal abuse and tell them the person is spamming. Send them exact headers, IP and email samples so they can ban their account. Getting secondary Paypal accounts isn't that easy so it should deter them for a while.

Email
Once you feel you've stopped the problem, it's time to remedy your email problem. As you've suspected, your domain name has been 'flagged' and will get junked going forward (I know for a fact AOL does this). You need to contact all the big names and let them know what's going on. Try to send over IP's and info (similar to Paypal info sent) if you have them.

Here are their websites:
Gmail (no contact forms but there is a Discussion Group that might help. Also, try emailing abuse@gmail.com or abuse@google.com
Hotmail/MSN (bottom of page 'click here to contact support')
Yahoo

I don't recommend contacting them until the situation is under control.

Maybe in the future you can look into using a different domain name for afffiliates. This way the main sales page is always protected and never involved with the affiliate site.

But it's definitely time you ramped up your Affiliate system. You're definitely not in the 7DS category any more. []

[Paul Myers]

Chris,

Do you know how to read email headers? If so, report the guy to the email providers and his ISP or web host.

Send me copies of the complaints, if they include the headers of the spams.


Paul

[chris_surfrider]

Thanks for the responses guys - and sorry about the very late reply here...

It looks like I have a few places to start contacting, and thanks for the offer Paul - I might send over that email if I can't figure it out.

Thanks again - really appreciate it...

Cheers

-Chris

P.S. Couldn't have happened at a worse time - I'm currently in Orlando "relaxing" with my wife and some friends... :-)

[mithii]

Hey Chris,

Did you check my site for solutions for SPAMS, Check it out, there you will find great solutions and tips

Cheers,