Reporting Internet Abuse

James_M

Reporting Internet Abuse

Internet abuse consists of threats and harassment, viruses, spamming, phishing email, port scanning, hacking, DOS outages, copyright infringement and other similar activities.

Reporting
A report of threats, harassment, spamming or phishing emails requires evidence in the form of a firewall log or email header. Follow the steps below to report the incident:

1. Examine the email header or firewall log: The email header will contain information necessary to identify where a message originated from. A firewall or server log will contain the activity, the IP address, and the time stamp of when the abuse occurred. Refer to your firewall vendor by contacting or visiting their website for help in reading the firewall log and finding the date and time of the abuse.
2. Locate the offending IP address: Read the firewall log or email header from the bottom up to determine the IP address and timestamp, and include that information in your complaint.
3. Determine who is responsible for the IP address: Go to whois.arin.net and enter the offending IP address into the ARIN WHOISRWA search box. Most organizations have abuse contact information listed in the Point of Contact section.
4. Send the evidence to the organization responsible for the IP address: If the offending IP address belongs to us, report the incident to abuse@charter.net. If the offending IP doesn't belong to us, report the incident to the owner of the IP address. Be sure to include the full email header or firewall log in the complaint.

Note: We can't process an abuse complaint unless it includes appropriate evidence of abuse.

How to Respond
If you're threatened over the Internet (via email, chat or other form of online communication):

• Don't respond to the threat.
  
• Keep the offensive or dangerous email for your records.
  
• Report the incident to your local law enforcement agency.
  

Email Header
In order to process an Internet abuse claim, you'll need to provide a sample that includes the full email header. Email messages consist of two sections:

1. Body: The message itself, sometimes containing a signature at the end.
2. Header: Contains the sender (From:), receiver (To:), summary (Subject:), and other information about the email.

* From: Contains the email address of the sender. This line can be easily forged.
* To: Contains the email address of the receiver. This line isn't necessarily related to the addresses the
email is delivered to. The actual delivery list is supplied in the SMTP protocol, not extracted from the header content. The "To" header is similar to the greeting at the top of a conventional letter that's delivered according to the address on the outer envelope.
* Subject: Contains a brief summary of the contents of the message.
* Date: Contains the local time and date when the message was originally sent.

Other common headers include:

• Cc: Carbon copy works like an old-fashioned carbon paper that was used to make duplicate copies of a typed letter.
  
• Received: Tracking information generated by mail servers that have handled a message.
  
• Content-Type: Information about how the message is displayed, usually a MIME type.
  

To view the full email header:

Spectrum Email

• Right-click on the message subject.
  
• Select View Source
  

.
Windows Mail

• Open the folder that contains the email message.
  
• Right-click the email message and select Properties.
  
• Select the Details tab.
  

Microsoft Outlook

• Open the folder that contains the email message.
  
• Right-click the email message and select Options.
  
• The header is the text in a box at the bottom of the window.
  

Outlook Express

• Open the folder that contains the email message.
  
• Right-click on the message and select Properties.
  
• At the top of the window, select the Details tab.
  

Gmail

• Open the message you'd like to view headers for.
  
• Select the down arrow next to Reply, at the top of the message pane.
  
• Choose Show Original.
  
• The full headers will appear in a new window.
  

Copyright Violation
If you believe that a Spectrum IP address is violating your copyright claim to original material such as a song, film or software, please report the incident to dmca@charter.net.

You must be the copyright holder to file a DMCA notice. Please comply with the standards of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Learn more about Copyright Infringement.

Identity Theft
If you believe that you've been a victim of identity theft, take the following steps immediately:

1. Place a fraud alert and/or freeze on your credit report. Learn more.
2. File a report with the three major credit reporting agencies:

Equifax

• PO BOX 740241
  
• Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
  
• Phone: (800) 525-6285
  
• equifax.com
  

Experian

• PO BOX 9532
  
• Allen, TX 75013
  
• Phone: (888) 397-3742
  
• experian.com
  

TransUnion

• Fraud Victim Assistance Division
  
• PO BOX 6790
  
• Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
  
• Phone: (800) 680-7289
  
• transunion.com
  

3. Close any accounts that you suspect were involved in the scam. Call and speak to the fraud or security department at each company. Making this a priority will ultimately reduce your liability. Follow-up each call in writing. Send letters as certified mail with return receipt requested. This will enable you to prove that the companies received the letters.

4. File a police report with your local agency, and get a copy. Financial institutions require a copy of the police report in order to continue with their investigation.
5. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
6. If you discover that your credit or debit card was used to pay another Spectrum customer's bill without your permission, or if you believe you were the victim of identity theft regarding your Spectrum account, please read our ID Theft Article for more information