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I tried to post about an hour ago, but received an error so I don't
know if it went through. I apologize if this is a dupe.
I'm a business owner, and have owned my current business for just
under 2 years. It is locally targeted, and is well known in the area.
About 4 months ago, another company began using an "almost" identical
name, offering an identical service. I had posted before, and
consensus was that it was totally illegal (re: "passing off"), but
unless I could afford an attorney, I'm SOL.
Today, I received an email that I thought was very odd. It was
addressed to me, FROM me. A closer inspection of the headers show that
the email was sent by the "new" company, but with them using my email
as the email address! It's obvious that a less suspecting person would
think that the email was sent by me.
There's absolutely no way that this is a coincidence, and I would
believe that they are sending emails disguised as me. That's really
the type of thing they do: they've told people that they are the
Chamber of Commerce, and when at least one person asked them if they
were me, they said yes.
So my question is, what can I do? Is email impersonation like this a
prosecutable offense, or am I really still SOL because I can't afford
an attorney?
TIA,
Mike
PS, this is in North Carolina, USA.
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Mike wrote:
I tried to post about an hour ago, but received an error so I don't
know if it went through. I apologize if this is a dupe.
I'm a business owner, and have owned my current business for just
under 2 years. It is locally targeted, and is well known in the area.
About 4 months ago, another company began using an "almost" identical
name, offering an identical service. I had posted before, and
consensus was that it was totally illegal (re: "passing off"), but
unless I could afford an attorney, I'm SOL.
Today, I received an email that I thought was very odd. It was
addressed to me, FROM me. A closer inspection of the headers show that
the email was sent by the "new" company, but with them using my email
as the email address! It's obvious that a less suspecting person would
think that the email was sent by me.
There's absolutely no way that this is a coincidence, and I would
believe that they are sending emails disguised as me. That's really
the type of thing they do: they've told people that they are the
Chamber of Commerce, and when at least one person asked them if they
were me, they said yes.
So my question is, what can I do? Is email impersonation like this a
prosecutable offense, or am I really still SOL because I can't afford
an attorney?
TIA,
Mike
PS, this is in North Carolina, USA.
This sounds like a pure case of fraud.
I am not an attorney and do not offer legal advice.
Using that e-mail, you could go directly to them if you know who they are
and issue a simple cease and desist request.
Using your address as their's is forgery in internet lingo and could cause
them to lose their account with their host.
Find out who they are hosted by.
Send a copy of the mail, with headers to the host and let them track it.
They can determine if other mail is being sent out using your addy.
When that happens, the host will generally give them a written warning to
stop.
If they continue, the site will be shut down.
If you can prove that their actions has caused you a loss of business, or
that they are representing themselves as your business, then you can take
them to court.
Get yourself an e-mail addy from a free service.
Send a request for information to them and see what you get back.
That could be your proof of misrepresentation and fraud.
Good luck.
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I'm a business owner, and have owned my current business for just
under 2 years. It is locally targeted, and is well known in the area.
About 4 months ago, another company began using an "almost" identical
name, offering an identical service. I had posted before, and
consensus was that it was totally illegal (re: "passing off"), but
unless I could afford an attorney, I'm SOL.
Today, I received an email that I thought was very odd. It was
addressed to me, FROM me. A closer inspection of the headers show that
the email was sent by the "new" company, but with them using my email
as the email address! It's obvious that a less suspecting person would
think that the email was sent by me.
What did the email *SAY*? I get plenty of emails allegedly sent
BY me TO me, and most of them are originated by viruses. Or
occasionally spammers, usually selling drugs, porn, or a share of
a huge amount of money if I help them get it out of Nigeria. Good
luck finding the virus author. There's not much you can do about
this. The other business will simply claim that one of their
machines got infected by the virus, assuming you can trace the email
to their machine. They might actually be telling the truth.
On the other hand, if the email is advertising the services that
you and the other business provide, with their contact information,
this sounds like fraud. If your email address contains the name
of your business (or the body uses your company name), it might be
trademark infringement also.
There's absolutely no way that this is a coincidence, and I would
believe that they are sending emails disguised as me. That's really
the type of thing they do: they've told people that they are the
Chamber of Commerce, and when at least one person asked them if they
were me, they said yes.
So my question is, what can I do? Is email impersonation like this a
prosecutable offense, or am I really still SOL because I can't afford
an attorney?
Collect evidence. Answer the email, or get a friend to do so, using
a new and temporary email address. Ask for more information. See
if the info you get back claims to be from you or your business,
but gives contact information for theirs. Get some friends as
witnesses when they repeat this themselves. I suspect if this
continues you may be in a position where you cannot afford *NOT*
to have an attorney.
Gordon L. Burditt
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