Reporting Spam Mail

Spam mail is a term used to describe unsolicited bulk e-mail. Oftentimes, these messages are selling some product or service, or contain fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes. We have provided this page to assist you in fighting this problem.

It is important for us to note that TCQ Internet does not sell or distribute customer e-mail addresses, and sending spam mail using a TCQ Internet account is strictly prohibited in our Service Agreement and will result in account termination.

There are many ways that mail spammers obtain your e-mail address. We would advise you to be very careful about how you distribute your e-mail address online. For example: Use a false e-mail address when posting to Usenet newsgroups, and only give your e-mail address to a trusted party. For more tips and suggestions, please see the links at the bottom of this page.

Before reporting any spam mail abuse to us, be sure it is not something you may have inadvertently subscribed to. Oftentimes when you purchase a product online, you may be automatically subscribed to a newsletter or catalog. These messages are not considered spam mail, and will provide ways to opt out.

If you are receiving spam mail in your TCQ Internet mailbox, you may want to consider our Message Center service. Message Center is a mail filtering and wireless messaging service provided by TCQ Internet in partnership with Postini. With Message Center, you adjust the mail filters yourself, to ensure that mail you want to receive is not filtered. This service may be added to your mailbox(es) for a cost of just $1 per month per mailbox. Read more about this feature by clicking here. To sign up, please send an e-mail to sales@tcq.net or call 952-277-1000 (option 1 for Sales).

Reporting Spam

When reporting spam mail, you must reveal the full header of the e-mail message. Without this, there is no way to track down the true sender of the message, since the reply-to-address is almost always spoofed. Instructions on revealing the full header can be found here.

Once you have revealed the full header you can report the abuse to one of the following sources:

	Spamcop offers a free reporting service, which reports abuse to the senders ISP.
	You can report the abuse to the Federal Trade Commission. Instead of filling out the form, you can simply forward the message, with the full header to uce@ftc.gov.