Replying to a Complaint
Sometimes when we receive an angry e-mail, our first instinct is to send an angry reply. In the case of forged e-mail, the complainer believes you are the spammer. Imagine how you might reply to a spam message if you thought you had found the spammer.
You need to assure the person—in a reasoned manner—that you are not the guilty party. Using the following prepared reply, you explain the situation and acknowledge that the University is also concerned about foreged e-mail. You can copy this message and paste it into a reply. Unfortunately, the person complaining is unlikely to be the only one who received the spam attributed to you, so you might want to keep this reply handy.
Hello
I believe we are both victims of spam called "forged e-mail" or "spoofing." The message you received was not from me. It came from a spammer who has maliciously inserted my e-mail address in the "From" field. Unfortunately, there is nothing either you or I can do about it other than to delete the message.
Recently, the University of Michigan IT Security staff has begun receiving many complaints from people both outside and inside the University who have been victimized. The U-M IT User Advocate has created a web site (http://www.umich.edu/~itua/email/spoofing/) detailing this problem that you may wish to visit.
Regards
Information Technology User Advocate at the University of Michigan
abuse@umich.edu
Viruses | Identity Theft | Scams | Network Security | ITUA Home