Jan
27

J.C. Penney: Phony “Confirmed” Opt-In (Gotcha!)

After previously spamming one of my spamtraps, J.C. Penney (a major U.S.-based department store) is sending phony “opt-in” confirmation emails. These emails have a Subject that reads, “Open To Confirm Your Email! EVERYTHING CHANGES 2.1.12”. In other words, anybody who is careless or curious enough to open this email in any normal email program that does not block images is automatically “confirmed” on the J. C. Penney list whether they intended to confirm or not. (“Gotcha!”) :/ The ESP is Cheetahmail, a division of Experian.

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Jan
26

Dell Computers: Spamming Yet Again :/

U.S. high tech giant Dell Computers is once again sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that didn’t ask to receive them. I am confident that this is the case because I’ve seen spam from Dell Small Business via Reed Business Systems to both personal email addresses and spamtraps for years. Since Dell *is* able to set and enforce marketing policy for its company, I must conclude that it is unwilling to rein in its spamming business unit and marketing partner. The ESP is Epsilon Interactive, via its subsidiary Bigfoot Interactive.

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Jan
24

Israel Ministry of Tourism: What Happens When You Ignore Bounced Email, Part 2

The Israel Ministry of Tourism is sending emailed invitations to an email address that was closed in 2009, and just recently completed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. The ESP is Vertical Response.

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Jan
24

IMAX Printing: Selling Printing Services to a Spamtrap

IMAX Printing, an online printing services provider, is sending bulk advertising emails to an email address that closed in 2003. The email address has not previously received email from this sender since it exited its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. The ESP is Benchmark Email.

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Jan
23

Carbon Central UK: Soliciting Spamtraps to Trade in Carbon Credits

Carbon Central UK, an online marketplace for trading in carbon credits, sent bulk email to a number of my spamtraps last night. None of the spamtraps had previously received email from this entity. The ESP is Emailvision.

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Jan
23

Pastor Melissa Scott: Preaching to a Spamtrap

Pastor Melissa Scott, minister of Faith Center in Glendale, California, is sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that was closed in 2005. The email address in question began receiving email from Pastor Scott only a few months ago, so the cause is probably either an unconfirmed web form subscription, or a purchased list. The sending ESP is IContact.

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Jan
23

Diverse Careers: Advertising Job Fairs to a Spamtrap

Diverse Careers, a California-based job board and career fair management company, is sending email newsletters to an email address that has never existed at all. This email address, along with a plausible but incorrect name, has been receiving a great deal of job-related and recruiting spam from what appear to be different organizations in the past several months, suggesting that it may be on a “targeted” list for sale. The ESP is Vertical Response.

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Jan
22

Google Calendar: Daily Emails Despite a Year of SMTP Rejections

Google Calendar is sending daily bulk email notifications to a spamtrap. The spamtrap was recently re-enabled after its timeout period, which means that for a period of over twelve consecutive months, it issued 500-level SMTP rejections to the daily Google Calendar email notifications. It is likely that this spamtrap years ago, when live, was subscribed to Google Calendar notifications. However, after a year of 500-level rejections to a daily bulk email, those emails need to have stopped. These did not, and are now spam. Google needs to fix its broken bounce processing for Google Calendar NOW.

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Jan
20

Hotels.com Thinks That I Need a Vacation

They’re right. 🙂 But their uncanny ability to read my mind does not justify spamming a personal email address. The ESP was ExactTarget.

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Jan
20

Fellon-McCord: Inviting a Spamtrap to a Seminar

U.S.-based energy market advisor and manager Fellon-McCord is sending bulk email advertisements to a closed role address at an ISP that went out of business in 2002. This spamtrap has also not previously received email from Fellon-McCord. The role address is not one of the standard role addresses used at many sites, which might account for its presence on a large number of lists for sale. It is also unlikely to be result of a typo. The ESP is Sendgrid.

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