| CyberGuards is investigating and filing action
against the individual or persons who have been sending out harassing emails under the
name of Robert Lavelle, Johnny King
and Mike Drake. The author(s) have collected a large
mailing list of individuals to which they continuously send the same messages from
different email addresses. This party is particularly malicious as they are quickly
shut off by the service providers due to complaints and immediately sign up with a new
provider to continue this harassment. This is illegal. This individual can
and will be prosecuted. The following is an
example of the most recent spamming letters.
Current Spam:
==============================================
From: mikedrake77@wowlink.com
To: mikedrake77@wowlink.com
Subject: Kill the Murderers !
6 billion people !!!
No wonder there's wars all over the world.
No wonder there's starvation all over the world.
No wonder there's poverty all over the world.
No wonder there's murder all over the world.
No wonder there's crime all over the world.
etc. etc. etc.
Kill the people that overpopulate the world to death, creating wars
starvation poverty crime etc. worldwide. They have billions of people
living in total despair and millions of people dying from their
overpopulating the world to death. They take it to the point that they
are a threat to the entire planet. Then you get the pristy boys running
around saying more more more just keep having more children. Then the
pristy boys say look look look everybody look at all that starvation
over there , if that was you starving to death you would want someone
to give you something would't you, GIVE ME MONEY. Then they get the
money give the poor 10% and keep 90% and go build churches in all the
rich neighborhoods.
Kill the Murderers !
==============================================
(spammers really need to learn to use spellcheck)
What can you do about the continuous
and malicious harassment by this person?
DO NOT reply to this person. Immediately forward a
complaint of the email to the service provider. Generally, using the addresses
of "abuse@abc.com" or "postmaster@abc.com" ('abc.com' being
the same as the sender of the email address). Be sure that you open and include all
headers of the email so that the complaint is received with the information necessary to
take immediate action.
To take it a step further, open the headers of the email,
copy the IP addresses and go to: http://www.arin.net/whois/arinwhois.html.
Look up all the provider information and forward a complaint with the attached
violation to all parties related to the Internet Service Provider.
Write to your Congress Representative. We
are serious about this harassment and we need the support of all government officials to
see that this activity stops. We suggest you forward them a copy of one of the
emails, along with a brief summary of the harassment you have received. You are
welcome to mention that CyberGuards has opened a case with this person, and leave our
contact information for them (please copy us if you do so).
We feel that our government officers need to see the exact
messages, and they need to hear from the victims regarding the amount of trauma these
messages can cause. Contacting your congressman can assist with this particular
case, along with helping to pass stricter laws against email harassment in the future.
If you're not sure of who your representatives are, check the
Congressional Member look-up services:
House: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm
How can you help us to see this person
brought to justice?
We are attempting to do two things; 1) compile an estimate of
the number of people being affected by this party; 2) determine the source of their email
address list.
If you are being harassed by this party, send an email to us
at:
guardian@cyberguards.com
Please put the topic: "Lavelle" in the subject line
Please include the following information:
- Approximate date you began receiving these emails
- Approximate number of emails received to date
- Any email lists you have signed up for (that you are aware
of). We have found that he uses primarily email addresses from Colleges and
Universities, so please check with your educational institutions and find out where your
email lists are distributed.
- Message boards or other interactive chat areas you frequent
which make your email address public (this includes ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, IRC, etc)
- we do not need your user ID or nicknames for these areas, please do not send them.
Again, please pay particular attention to your educational institutions here.
- If you have logged them, include the email addresses these
were sent from (please do not send a copy of the actual email, we have plenty)
- Tell us if you have been reporting these to the
postmaster/abuse area of the internet service provider (all the time, sometimes, never)
- Let us know if you would like to be updated on the progress of
this case. Under NO circumstances will your email address be given out, and you will
never receive emails from us for anything other than this case subject.
- In the event this becomes a legal action in a court of law,
would you wish to be named as one of the victims in this case?
- Do you feel physically threatened or in danger
due to these emailings?
(The above question is necessary for
FBI prosecution information)
Thank you for your assistance and continued support in this
matter.
General Info
We have found that "Robert Lavelle" has compiled an
email list consisting primarily of educational institutions, particularly colleges and
universities. Please contact the webmaster and/or internet service provided by your
school and find out where your email lists are distributed. He has also begun
targeting Religious organizations in late 1999 and some general government agencies (NASA,
some local Police, etc.)
One of the alias names used by this person is "John
King", the base dialup origination of this crime is in the state of Virginia (for
legal reasons we cannot give further address information at this time). Please alert
your educational institution to follow up on any information regarding mailing lists which
originate from this name. Most recently he is using the name "Mike Drake"
and providing the usual fake address and contact information.
CyberGuards has spoken to numerous Internet Service Providers
and others with a similarity in name who have been abused by the behavior of this
spammer. We would like to take a moment to mention that all of these are victims as
well, and we should all work together to stop this behavior. We have received
numerous reports of damages caused to the service providers after one of these 'Lavelle'
letters has been sent. In order for this case to reach the ultimate conclusion,
which is to stop these emails, the proper and legal channels should be followed by all
affected.
Various News Updates:
Updated 11/10/99
The current mailing list of Mr. Lavelle consists of well over
50,000 various email addresses. He was collecting addresses primarily from
educational institutions, however he has recently increased his archives to include
religious based lists as well (i.e., awakening listserver). It appears that Mr.
Lavelle does his mass emailings on Sunday evening (Internet Service Providers may want
to make note of this). He is still using the alias name of "Johnny
King" to obtain new internet service and is generally paying with a money order.
To Internet Service Providers: If you are a victim of
this spammer, we suggest that you immediately post a message on your main index website
page that you have deleted his resources and stating whatever legal actions you will be
taking, or joining, to see this person stopped. Hopefully this will cease the harassing
activities, other than the suggested reporting of these spams, many of you see from the
frustrated email victims of Mr. Lavelle.
CyberGuards does have an exact current and correct address
for this person which we have submitted to the proper authorities (Federal Bureau of
Investigation), and we will continue to work with them in every possible way. The
amount of information we have received from the email victims and Internet Service
Providers has been invaluable and will surely help in the case being brought against this
CyberStalker.
Update 12/12/99
CyberGuards has personally spoken to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation regarding this CyberStalker. They have received all the information
which has been compiled on this person over the past few months and are actively
researching at this time. Anyone who is sending us correspondence as a victim,
please note the new question above which has been added to assist the FBI with this issue.
We will continue to keep you informed through this avenue on
the progress of this case.
Update: 3/1/00
The Robert Lavelle Email Harassment has ceased for the time
being. Unfortunately we have not been cleared per the authorities to make an
official statement on this case. In the event we receive such clearance, we will
post it here immediately.
Thank you to the thousands of victims and institutions who
assisted with input on this case. The information received by all has been extremely
valuable. Special thanks to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their
assistance.
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