American Family: Welcoming a Spamtrap to its List :/

Sweepstakes and deals program American Family today sent a welcome message to a spamtrap that has been closed for over ten years, notifying it that it had been added to their list. Moreover, when this spamtrap was live, it belonged to a European user who presumably would not qualify for the deals that this site offers. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Sprint: MASSIVE Spam Run (Shame on you!)

U.S. telecommunications and network service provider Sprint today sent bulk email to a couple dozen spamtraps of mine and (doubtless) a great many belonging to other antispammers. Most of these email addresses have been closed for periods ranging from five years to over a decade, if they were ever live at all. (I didn’t check them all.) The ESP is Acxiom Digital, which presumably did not expect a customer with Sprint’s reputation and experience to spam a list that could have been sourced from a Millionez CD seller. 🙁

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Entertainment Weekly: We Want You Back! (To a 7-Year-Old Spamtrap)

Entertainment Weekly, a widely-read U.S.-based magazine about the entertainment industry published by Time, Inc., today sent a subscription offer to what it evidently believes is a former subscriber. The email address to which it was sent has not been live for over seven years. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Godiva: Won’t Take “No” For an Answer :(

Godiva, legendary U.S. maker of fine chocolates, is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth because they do not respect customer opt-out from marketing emails. :/ I occasionally order from Godiva, usually to send a birthday or thank-you present to somebody. I have an account, with a tagged email address. When created, that account was opted out of all marketing emails whatsoever, as I almost always do. This time, because of previous issues with being re-added to Godiva’s marketing email list after placing an order, I phoned in the order. When giving it, I *explicitly* told the sales rep to ensure that my email address did not get added to any lists. Although Godiva sends transactional emails from their own IPs, marketing emails are sent via Acxiom Digital.

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Upromise: Sending a “Membership Notice” to a Spamtrap

Upromise, a college funding program operated by U.S. financial services company Sallie Mae, today sent a “membership notice” to a spamtrap email address that has never before heard from either Upromise or Sallie Mae. I have seen a great deal of spam for loan offers and college financial assistance to that spamtrap, which appears to have been placed on a (likely e-pended) list supposedly targeted at would-be college students and sold to all and sundry. :/ The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Sony Mobile: MASSIVE Spam Run This Week

Sometime last week Sony Mobile, the cell phone subsidiary of Sony Corporation, started spamming several of my spamtraps, some of them email addresses that have been closed for years, and some email addressees that never existed at all. The spam dribbled out, two or three per day, until today. Today they hit over two dozen spamtraps that they had not emailed previously. Their ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Rodale Press/Women’s Health: Suddenly Spamming Yet Another Spamtrap

Two months after Men’s Health Magazine and Books, a subsidary of Rodale Press, began spamming one of my spamtraps, sister publication Women’s Health Magazine and Books is suddenly spamming an email address that was closed in 2004. This spamtrap email address has not received email from Women’s Health previously, at least not since it became a spamtrap. The ESP, as before, is Acxiom Digital.

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I *do* Need a Mobile, But….

I don’t buy from spammers if I can help it. That is a pity, because Sony Ericcson apparently wants to sell one of their mobiles to one of my spamtraps. I couldn’t understand the email because it was not in English or any language that I recognize. The spamtrap has been dead for years. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Gerber Life: Selling Baby Life Insurance to an E-Pended Address?

Gerber Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the U.S.-based company that makes baby food, has started sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that has been closed for years. This email address had not received any email from Gerber prior to a couple of weeks ago. In addition, the name in the email does not match that of the original owner of the email address, which is usually a reliable sign of an e-pended email address. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Rodale Press/Men’s Health: Suddenly Spamming a Closed Email Address

Men’s Health Magazine and Books, a subsidary of Rodale Press, is suddenly sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2008, and that has not received email from Men’s Health at least since this email address completed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. This email address would have long since been removed from any properly-run bulk email list. Properly managed bulk email lists also don’t start suddenly emailing email addresses that they have ignored for several years. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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