Feb
24

January 2015 ESP Spam: Some Notes….

I see that Atro Tossavainen graphed the spam that we saw in January. Atro and I manage a substantial spamtrap collection together, so I have seen what he posted about. Nothing there surprised me except the hugely disproportionate amount of spam Topica sends to our spamtraps. I’ve blogged twice about Topica, and in the last blog recommended blocking their /22 because of the amounts of spam and probability that little or no non-spam email is sent from them any more. However, I did not realize that we were seeing twice as much spam from Topica as from ExactTarget, which sends several orders of magnitude more email than they do.

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Aug
02

Neimen Marcus: The *Oddest* Confirmation Email Ever?

Neiman Marcus, a high-end U.S. department store, just emailed a number of spamtraps. The Subject header asks for them to confirm their email address. The message body thanks them for having confirmed their email address. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a division of Experian.

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Jan
19

QVC: Verifying Email Addresses that Never Responded to Email

Today video and e-commerce retailer QVC sent what appears to be a re-engagement or verification email to a pristine spamtrap. The spamtrap probably got onto QVC’s list because the user typoed the real email address when subscribing. The email indicates that the user has not responded to emails “recently”, and asks for the user to indicate whether they want to stay on QVC’s list. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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Jan
21

Cosmetic products for the spamtrap: Estee Lauder

I have no way to identify why any addresses would be on Estee Lauder’s list, but at the very least, it is clear that they are paying zero attention to bounces.  Addresses that have spent a decade dead just shouldn’t be on anybody’s mailing list any more.

The ESP is CheetahMail, who, according to a rDNS lookup of the surrounding /24, handle bulk email for entities such as VistaPrint.  The words “lossless compression” did briefly cross my mind.

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Dec
06

Investor’s Business Daily: For Spamtraps With IRAs?

U.S. business newsletter Investor’s Business Daily just sent an advertisement to a spamtrap that, as far as I can tell, has never existed at all. (The domain has never as best I know had a deliverable email address.) The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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Dec
02

Victoria’s Secret: A New Perfume Collection for a Spamtrap?

U.S. women’s intimate apparel boutique Victoria’s Secret is once again sending email advertisements to one of my spamtraps. This follows a somewhat more serious spam outbreak from this company in late summer, when they hit a number of my spamtraps. At the time I did not blog about it because Spamhaus listed them. (I usually try to warn companies about spam before it gets to that point.) The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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Oct
09

Redbox: COI Doesn’t Fix All Bulk Email Problems

Because Redbox has been actively confirming subscriptions to its lists, I’ve kept quiet about the spamtrap hits that I see from them. They’re doing the right thing to confirm. I don’t want to discourage them. But their initial acquisition process for these email addresses is resulting in more initial spamtrap hits than any reputable company whose bulk email I’ve observed before. I think that they and their ESPs — Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian, and ExactTarget — need to know this. Further, this raises an important issue for many companies that use bulk email: what to do about problems that confirmed opt-in (COI) doesn’t solve.

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Sep
12

Nordstrom: More High-End Clothing for a Spamtrap

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.

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Aug
29

VistaPrint: “Everything Must Go”?

Vistaprint, which should need no introduction to anybody who hasn’t been hiding in the woods for the past decade and has email, just sent spam to a spamtrap that cannot have been live after 2006. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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Aug
20

Redbox: Confirming Subscriptions? YES!

Redbox, a popular U.S.-based movie and game rental service with trademark red kiosks at many gas stations and minimarts across the country, is actively confirming subscriptions to its service and mailing list. Over the past couple of months a number of my spamtraps have received confirmation requests from Redbox via its ESP, Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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