SUMMARY: email threats

From: Cathy Smith (csmith@kosh.dalsemi.com)
Date: Mon Jul 13 1998 - 09:33:08 CDT


hi

my apologies for this late summary. my original question was what to do about
a death-threat i received through e-mail. the original message is at the end.

i appreciate everyone who replied. i don't subscribe to AOL, use it in any
way, or know anyone with an AOL email address. my primary source of
information about what happened came from this list. thank you.

the HR and security departments at the company i work for were very responsive.
i was surprised because that's not been the case elsewhere. they contacted
the police, the FBI and the phone company. security instructed me not to call
the phone number in the message. apparently this is frequently a scam with the
number forwarding to somewhere else, possibly out of the country, and charging
a high fee. according to roger mcgraw, another member of the sun-manager's
reading list, this was a real phone number. roger spoke with security at AOL.
They said this was a prank, that thousands of people had received this message,
and the phone number belonged to a victim of this message ZDNet ran an article
the next day about this.

if my company had not taken prompt action, then the following suggestions i
received were be appropriate actions:

1. contact the local phone company to report the number
2. call AOL
3. send the message, including headers to
        abuse@aol.com
4. call the local police/fbi office

i'd like to thank the following people who responded:

Roger McGraw, Jr. <roger@ptac.com>
Gary Smith <gsmith@lvmail1.dseg.ti.com>
Lewis E. Wolfgang <wolfgang@nosc.mil>
Gene Rackow <rackow@mcs.anl.gov>
Morrison, Hal (Harold B) <hbmorris@ingr.com>
Mike Taylor <taylor@syrinx.jeffnet.org>
Boyko, Steve <SBoyko@nbpower.com>
Felipe Antonio Martell Aguirre <martell@mexico-city.geoquest.slb.com>
Chan Ling Ling <llchan@kdupg.edu.my>
Ken Trenkelbach <agony@eden.com>
Rodney Wines <Rodney.Wines@ahqps.alcatel.fr>
azhang@ect.enron.com <azhang@ect.enron.com>
Aaron Lineberger <aaron@cs.odu.edu>
dennis_keller <dennis_keller@smtp.ddc.dla.mil>
Robert L. Bailey <rlb@cruiser.engin.umb.edu>
Colin_Melville <Colin_Melville@mastercard.com>
Greg Polanski <greg_polanski@adc.com>
Jonathan.Loh <Jonathan.Loh@BankAmerica.com>
Graham Leggett <graham@vwv.com>
Andrew M Townsend <ATOWNSEND@DOLETA.GOV>
Mark Belanger <mark_belanger@ltx.com>
Matt Lawrence <lawrence@denton.ncct.sps.mot.com>
Robert L. Bailey <rlb@cruiser.engin.umb.edu>
Duncan, Gary D <Garnett.Duncan@PSS.Boeing.com>

cathy

original message:
> apparently i am not the only one on the sun manager's list to receive this
> e-mail this morning. i've notified my HR. is there anything else i can do?
>
> thanks a lot.
>
> cathy l. smith
>
> --- Forwarded mail from YOURS2BE@aol.com
>
> From: YOURS2BE@aol.com
> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 03:17:22 EDT
> Subject: Please Read
>
> [ Attachment (text/plain): 4 bytes
> Character set: US-ASCII
> Encoded with "base64" ]
>
> [ message/rfc822 ] :
>
> From: YOURS2BE@aol.com
> Return-path: <YOURS2BE@aol.com>
> To: YOURS2BE@aol.com
> Subject: Please Read
> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 00:13:20 EDT
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> Hello, my name is Andy. I know where you live and I know where your kids
> sleep. If you dont call me within 24 hours im going to kill your kids. my
> phone number is 864-833-3403.
>
> P.S. This is NOT a joke.
>
>
> ---End of forwarded mail from YOURS2BE@aol.com

-- 
Cathy L. Smith
Dallas Semiconductor
(972)371-6720
e-mail: csmith@dalsemi.com
A student who changes the course of history is probably taking an
exam.



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