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Ms. Ong usually clicks through to the spammer's Web site, finds the domain the site appears to be associated with, then digs deeper to find the actual site that the domain is registered to. "Heaps of times, the host of the spam or porn Web site is not aware of the person spamming from their hosting services, and when made aware of the person violating their terms of service they usually close down the Web site relatively soon," Ms. Ong said. "No one wants to be associated with spam."
Bob Held, 46, who lives in suburban Minneapolis, has taken to using fake names. His favorite nom de Web is Roberto Heldo. Whenever a Web site asks him to give his e-mail address in exchange for something, like downloading a free browser plug-in, he punches in an alias. The aliases, he says, are a foolproof method for tracking who is misusing his e-mail address.
On several occasions, Mr. Held has confirmed his suspicions that his e-mail address and other personal information are being appropriated by third parties without his permission. Indeed, because he has occasionally included his real street address when registering online, he once received a month's free newspaper subscription sent to Roberto Heldo, and has found a letter for Mr. Heldo in his mailbox.
Despite his best efforts, his problems with spam persist. Each morning, he checks the e-mail account he shares with his wife and three teenagers and invariably spends a few minutes purging spam.
After he noticed numerous pieces of pornographic e-mail clogging the family's In box, Mr. Held began a sleuthing operation into his children's Internet surfing habits. He was relieved to see that the lewd messages were just another symptom of an onslaught of spam and not a result of his children's Web travels.
Although filters on the computers have helped, Mr. Held remains frustrated by the spam he gets on his Web-enabled cellular phone, since sifting through and deleting unwanted messages costs him precious airtime.
Ms. Garrelts is in much the same boat. She has discovered that she can run but she cannot hide from the spammers. Now she is receiving spam on her cellphone, text messages offering prescription drugs and long-distance phone service.
"You hear the phone in the middle of the night and get up to check it because you're concerned," she said. "And it's just spam."
Michael Falcone contributed reporting for this article.
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