MainSleaze

Seattle-based department store Nordstrom is sending email advertisements to a recently re-enabled email address that closed in 2005. This spamtrap almost certainly never existed at all; the domain never had more than three or four live email addresses. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

This is a second case of what I suspect to be a typoed email address recently added to a list. (I just blogged about the first a few minutes ago.) Just think about it. How many retailers ask for email addresses at the checkout stand? How many harried clerks must type that email address into a database while customers wait impatiently? How many written notes are typed in at day’s end? And what sort of results would you expect from this process?

Yeah. Me too. :/

Retailers who ask for and collect email addresses from customers at points-of-sale should ALWAYS confirm those email addresses before adding them to lists. This is especially true for high-volume retailers such as department stores, because they collect enough email addresses at the cash register that — sooner or later — they are bound to hit a few spamtraps. Some of those spamtraps might not belong to a cranky blogger, but a blacklist (Spamhaus, anyone?), or Return Path.

Sending IP: 8.7.42.76

Spam Sample:

Actual Headers:

Received: from mta924.e.nordstrom.com (mta924.e.nordstrom.com [8.7.42.76])
        by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
        for <xxx>; Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:xx:xx -0000 (UT)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
DomainKey-Signature: <xxx>
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:xx:xx -0000
Message-ID: <<xxx>@mta924.e.nordstrom.com>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:rm-<xxx>@e.nordstrom.com>
From: "NORDSTROM" <shop@e.nordstrom.com>
To: <xxx>
Subject: Sporty Chic: New Jackets from Nike, The North Face & More
MIME-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: "NORDSTROM" <support-<xxx>@e.nordstrom.com>
Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary="<xxx>"

Readable Email:

From: NORDSTROM <shop@e.nordstrom.com>
To: <spamtrap>
Subject: Sporty Chic: New Jackets from Nike, The North Face & More
Reply-To: NORDSTROM <support-<xxx>@e.nordstrom.com>

You don’t have to be an athlete to rock the activewear trend.

This is an advertising message from Nordstrom.com.

To view this e-mail online, click here
http://e.nordstrom.com/a/<xxx>

============================================================

NORDSTROM.com
1700 Seventh Avenue, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98101

Nordstrom Privacy Policy
http://e.nordstrom.com/a/<xxx>

To make sure you continue to receive our e-mails optimally and in your in-box (not sent to bulk or junk folders), please add shop@e.nordstrom.com to your address book or safe sender list.

TO OPT-DOWN OR UNSUBSCRIBE: This e-mail was sent to you because you are a valued Nordstrom customer. To receive fewer updates or remove yourself from our e-mail program, please change your e-mail preferences.

http://e.nordstrom.com/a/<xxx>