DSPAM - mail being returned

[skypanther]

A client is reporting that mail sent to him is being returned to the sender marked as spam. Why is DSPAM returning mail? The messages on this forum have said that DSPAM would add various headers that the HSPHERE-controlled SpamAssassin would use to determine the action to take. And the actions available in HSPHERE are to mark the message, move it to a folder, or delete it.

I have a problem with mail be returned for a couple of reasons:

1) It shouldn't be happening based on what I noted above
2) It identifies the email address as a legitimate mailbox to spammers
3) It looks bad for my customers if their legitimate contacts are sending mail that is mistakenly identified as spam--far better to have it arrive in their inbox where they can work around that fact.

How can I change this behavior for my client's site?

Here's the message the sender received after sending a recent message to my client:

This is the mail system at host dspam1.m****here.biz.

I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.

For further assistance, please send mail to <postmaster>

If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.

The mail system

<[email protected]>: host 204.14.110.252[204.14.110.252] said: 554
Sorry, this message appears to be spam (#5.6.0) (in reply to end of DATA
command)

Tim

 

[tanmaya]

Hello Tim,

His mailbox must have the anti-spam action set to "Remove". This will cause such bounces. He can avoid such bounces by setting anti-spam prefs to "Mark as spam" or "Move to".

 

[skypanther]

Indeed, he did have it set to "Remove". Thanks, I'll have him change that.

My point #2 from above still stands...DSPAM or whatever shouldn't return marked messages because it alerts spammers to a legitimate mailbox.

Tim

 

[tanmaya]

If you follow my advise point 2 resolves by itself.
For those who still have this option enabled, specified anti-spam action has to be taken in any case and thus a relevent bounce is also mandatory.
Also if the sender is fake(which is mostly the case), it doesnt get delivered to the spammer. Most of the mailservers have easier ways for spammers to identifiy mailboxes and dspam actually hides client's mailbox presence quite nicely.
It is always a choice between available options, with pros and cons of each of them.