You're talking about geolocation using IP addresses - I'm not. I was answering a specific point about responding to spam in forms and that dynamic IP addresses notwithstanding, responding is a poor idea since it confirms that a computer within that pool of addresses is live and responding and therefore ratchets up the likelihood of further spam to that ISP and thus someone not as worldly wise & tech savvy as the august users of this place getting caught out.
Rubbish. With the type of phishing expedition highlighted in this thread there is no "pool" of IP addresses, no "pool" of ISP's, no "attack" on ISP's and no "attack" per country. I get the same Barclay's, HSBC, etc phishing mails despite not being in the country where these banks are, according to the emails I see they are generally sites claiming to be in the UK, and I also get some for US banks too. Paypal UK is also another favourite. Explain how that is somehow "tied" to an ISP, especially through a web-based email like Hotmail, or through an email address that has ".be" at the end. Answer, it ISN'T, it's a random phish based on the very method described by mixture. It has bugger all to do with your ISP. Also, since you are using a "form" the IP address is irrelevant as they have no idea whether you are at home, work, hotel, internet cafe, mobile, etc when you send in the form.
Sorry, Para, but you have no idea regarding these kinds of attacks. Sure, some spam mails do mean to find a "live" email so they can send more spam, others use the email to send a nasty to compromise the receiver's computer. But these phishing scams for banks/paypal have nothing to do with that, they are only interested in the gullible actually following the instructions and filling in the form so these details can be used for nefarious purposes. And by buggering the scammers around by sending fake info, it means they are spending time on nothing which means there is a smaller chance of some imbecile being fleeced at that moment and/or a higher chance of a bank taking action to prevent an idiot being fleeced since they'll take notice of people trying to access a non-existent account with fake details.
By the way, I'm still waiting to for you to enlighten us with the benefits a scammer will have by tracing the IP address from an email. As I say, is the sender at work, at home, in an internet cafe, at a friend's house, in jail, on vacation, using free wifi whilst sitting in a café....... Explain the use, please, if you can.....