Spam Problem, Anyone An Anti-Spam Expert???

[29FIVE Designs]

I have a spam problem, I don't know if there is anyone here that is an "expert" in anti-spam, but here are some Q&As that someone else asked me about:

a. how you think the problem arose;
b. is there a common denominator with your clients' sites e.g. same host;
c. what anti-spam measures do you have in place;
d. what email addresses are freely published in the sites;
e. is email contact through forms and php;
f. what protective measures does your host have etc.

a) I don't know how it arose, but I do know that both site's problems started at the same time (the sites have nothing in common as far as domain names or links).
b) The only thing that is the same is the hosting company (GoDaddy).
c) I have captcha in place, that didn't work, so I got the IP of the spammer, and it's the same IP that is spamming both sites. I tried blocking the IP using PHP which didn't work, so that tells me they aren't actually visiting the page, they are just posting to it.
d) There are NO email address in the sites. They are all held server-side in PHP.
e) The contact form is sent to the server through post and is processed using PHP.
f) I contacted GoDaddy on the matter and they suggested SPF (which I don't have set up right now). I don't know anything about SPF records and am worried to implement one because I want emails sent FROM my domain name (outbound) to be able to be sent from any mail server (because the problem is INBOUND). So I just want to configure my SPF record to validate INBOUND emails. I don't know how much this will help though because the spam emails all come from the gmail.com domain.

Let me know if you can help. Thanks in advance!!!

[Laura Lynne]

I'm no spam expert but I know this is really good....

Spam Arrest - Take Control of Your Inbox

It costs although there could be a free image verification plugin or site that may help.

Best of luck hope you get it sorted.

[Toon]

Yep they are good and $3.12 per month isn't that unreasonable. Hope you get it sorted mate.

[ianm]

talking of spam has anyone tried this before? ASSP

i want some feedback before i install it

[29FIVE Designs]

Thanks for the info, but I'm looking into stopping it at the web level. I also don't want the bot using up traffic and SMTP resources. I think I have something figured out through .htaccess and PHP though...

[ianm]

how about Home - Spamato Spam Filter System

[Toon]

Thought this article might be of help...

Hide Your E-mail Address from Spam Bots / Wired How To's

[dash]

i have about five spam bots joining my board everyday.

[PR Design]

Well I used to get LOADS of spam every day but since I encrypted my email address on the site I get about 3 spam emails a week (without a spam filter)