As you’re probably aware, using Mail’s Bounce command (Message > Bounce) isn’t effective against spammers because nearly all the spam your receive carries a forged “from” address—meaning that you’ll likely bounce the message to an innocent address. Bouncing can be effective, however, when dealing with creeps and cranks who won’t leave you alone. Yet if you’re plagued by Cs and Cs, it’s a bother to have to manually invoke the Bounce command. Here’s a way to automate the process.
If such a creep/crank bothers you (or you just can’t think of a polite way to tell your Aunt Vilma to stop with the endless “joke of the day” emails), download a copy of Evan Chaney’s free Bounce Mail 1.0 AppleScript. Install the script in /Library/Scripts/Mail Scripts, launch Mail, and create a new Mail rule by opening Mail’s preferences and configuring that rule to read:
(Replace the text in the From entry with the email address of the creep.)
When the creep subsequently emails you, they’ll receive a bounced message in reply and their messages will be diverted to the special Cranks and Creeps mailbox you’ve created. I suggest holding onto these message should more severe actions (read: legal) be required. With luck, the fake bounce will discourage further communication.