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Original poster

Harassment Emails - what can I do to stop someone sending them to me?

53 replies

nannynick · 24/04/2007 21:01

Hi, I am looking for advice with regard to emails being sent to me.

I have been receiving emails from someone for 2 years. The emails are of an unfriendly nature and are intermittent. There can be periods of time, sometimes many months, between each email.

The latest arrived at 19:27 today (24-April-2007) and I have forwarded it to abuse@btinternet (traced the IP and it originated on the BT network) and also copied it to my local police. Previously I have contacted my local police, but they didn't help. So this time, I hope they will start to take more notice... as it has escalated to being emails and occasional packages sent via royal mail. The packages alas can not be traced, as they are samples from companies, thus can be requested by anyone.

Anyone have any advice?

Will the police deal with this under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, or is it just not of much interest to them, until this person comes to my home and kills me?

OP posts:
newlifenewname · 24/04/2007 22:03

What about someone from NJ?

Original poster
nannynick · 24/04/2007 22:08

Yes, could be someone from NJ, as I am well known there.

OP posts:
SueW · 24/04/2007 22:10

The piece that you quote from an email though about the 'leaflet offerings' sounds like they are local and you have previously sent leaflets out in their area (with your email details on?) Do you leaflet over a wide area? How many times have you done this? Did you do it in early 2005? Where to?

The Ealing thing may be a red herring. My IP address is apparently in Slough, according to www.ip-adress.com/ but I guess that's where my internet service provider has something based. Although according to the photo thst website provided me with, my IP is based on what looks like a piece of common land where there is a fair taking place!!

UtterPigsty · 24/04/2007 22:22

Ok this is seriously unpleasant
i nevr knew you wer a bloke.

imo you need to also report it to your local polci station# go in adn get the name of the person who is dealign wiht it.
Make sure they get on to it. ask to speka to a perosn in aurhoity if needs be,

DO keep at it and keep us informed

UtterPigsty · 24/04/2007 22:24

wellt eh thigns i listed are all agravating under the 1997 act.

It si seriousyl not ok to leave this any longer. we hav ehad way mroe trivial incourt
you MUST go straight way tomorrow morning
or Ill send a fish around

Original poster
nannynick · 24/04/2007 22:27

Haven't done leafleting for ages. Can't recall what I did back in 2005. Agree that the IP thing may be a red herring, but it does trace to a bar position, which gives me some hope. Just done a check on my own IP and I map to Borehamwood, probably some 40 miles from my location in Surrey.

The IP address of the email sender is now mapping to Rainham Essex, according to the ip-adress website.

I wonder how accurate any of these trace utilities are.

newlifenewname - please email me, as I don't know who you are.

OP posts:
UtterPigsty · 24/04/2007 22:28

nick
it sme cod
please do as i say tommorow
do not be fobbed off.

UtterPigsty · 24/04/2007 22:33

aos bear in mind they may take your hard drive so you may be pc less for a while

fireflyfairy2 · 24/04/2007 22:40

Oh how awful

Petty narrow minded people.

I hope you get this sorted & don't let whoever it is intimidate you.

UtterPigsty · 24/04/2007 22:40

oi nick
obey the fish

Original poster
nannynick · 24/04/2007 22:44

I'm still lost, not always good at matching mumsnet usernames with real people.

OP posts:
fireflyfairy2 · 24/04/2007 22:52

Cod is the magistrate. So she knows what she's talking about [allegedly]

UtterPigsty · 24/04/2007 22:54

Shh
am undercover

BecauseImWorthIt · 25/04/2007 12:07

Have you ever advertised in The Lady? After I had placed an ad in there looking for a nanny I had a series of really unpleasant phone calls. The police took them really seriously (squad car at the door within 10 minutes of me reporting it) and said that The Lady was a well known source for various individuals to get hold of information about people with children. Horrible thought.

I really, really, really urge you to follow Cod's advice and go to the police again. Sadly I think it may be right that you're not taken seriously because you're male, but don't be fobbed off. You have a stalker who sounds like they have some kind of grudge against you - it also sounds like it is escalating.

Do it today before it gets more serious.

foxinsocks · 25/04/2007 12:23

oh nick, how awful. Many years ago, I worked for a telecomms company and we had a specifc person (in part of a department) who dealt with nuisance calls/harrassment. BT will definitely have someone who can help you - I agree with the police reporting and also see if you can find the right person at BT who deals with this sort of thing (the police may know).

It is against the BT acceptable use policy to use their network to harrass/libel other people so you definitely have a case there.

You need to use strong words when you speak to them (like harrass and libel).

Original poster
nannynick · 27/04/2007 11:44

I have spoken at length with a head person at BT secrity and the conclusion in this particular instance was that it was not worth pursuing, as there would be insufficient evidence for an individual person to be found responsible.

However they did offer me some advice as to what to do for future emails received, so I will follow that. Simply it is to filter the email off, so that I don't have to read it if I don't want to, and report every time to abuse@isp so that the isp(s) concerned could investigate.

With luck I won't hear from the person sending me the emails for another year - they do seem to be following a pattern of just sending messages around this time of year.

OP posts:
Marina · 27/04/2007 11:52

You have my utter sympathy Nannynick.
I had a death threat e-mail connected to my work when I was pregnant four years ago.
I knew who sent it but our stupid, stupid IT Department couldn't prove it.
The police were actually the only people I approached who took it seriously and understood how upsetting I found it.
Please go back to them and get this wicked person prosecuted.

saltire · 27/04/2007 11:57

Oh nick, how awful for you. When you say you have kept the emails, I hope have printed them off, or backed them up onto disk. I really don't know what to suggest, but you should follow Cod's advice, she does talk sense(even if she doesn't spell it) when it comes to things like this.
I would keep going on at the Police to make them do soemthing, it shouldn't make a blind bit of difference if you are a man or not. You are an invaluable source of good advice of on the Childminder/Nanny section of this board.

theimpsmum · 27/04/2007 12:25

Hi Nick
Sorry to read about all the hassle your having and I'm appalled with BT that they will not do anything about it.I would read through BT's terms of service for their email,it should be easy to find on the net,and find out what they say about email harrassment.I would keep on at them,they can trace this,my partner works on an online community dealing with malware etc and there are ways(legal) to trace individuals.This is my Dp advice.....
Firstly the process for Webmail,is the user logs in via http.BTYahoo will log the IP address of the person accessing that account through their server access logs at the very least.I would suggest they have a database for every IP that accesses each webmail account.If this "person" is accessing the webmail from their own Ip(home) address,then they should be a record of this Ip from their netblock(ie the Ealing one)-in turn the isp will have a record of that ip,and is completley traceable,and by law the isp has to keep these records for 3 years,and can be accessed by court order.
Another option is the person could be using proxies to hide their real location,where they would be untraceable,although with the netblock showing Ealing then this wouldn't be the case.
If you still get no joy from them,and I would mention you are getting the police involved,then there are goverment websites that deal with complaints against isp's and they ,I'm sure,would be of some help with this.

As I said before,I'm sorry this is happening to you,I had a very small amount of these sort of emails a few years ago,luckily mine stopped but it was very upsetting and didn't go on as long as yours have,and I hope you get it sorted soon.

Original poster
nannynick · 28/04/2007 18:24

Thanks for your nice comments and advice.

BT have traced the IP address (thanks to a mumsnet reader) but the advice was that even getting a court order so that I could know who user was, would not be beneficial on this occasion... as some internet connections have multiple computers connected such as an Internet Cafe. While they didn't say it was from an internet cafe, that was the impression I got.

OP posts:
edam · 28/04/2007 18:54

Surely internet cafes have records though? Some might even have CCTV...

Horrid thing to have happening and very frustrating that BT/police are being so lame about it. And why on earth should you have to go to the trouble of getting a court order?

lemonaid · 28/04/2007 18:56

Mind you, if it's consistently the same internet cafe you could put some pressure on them re their facilities being used to send abusive emails.

Porcupine · 29/04/2007 14:18

no news form police?

MellowMa · 20/05/2007 14:19

Message withdrawn

SaintGeorge · 20/05/2007 15:10

Sorry, just skimmed thread so apologies if repeating.

If you do give out your email address on a board such as Mumsnet DO NOT write it out in standard email format.

For example

[email protected]

should be written more like:

missjones 654321 at jones mail dot com (remove extra spaces)

There are some nasty bits of software out there that can prune email addresses from sites but only if they are in a recognisable format.

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