ECost.com: *Still* Selling Electronic Products to a Spamtrap
Online electronic products discounter eCost.com is still sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2007. There is no record of eCost.com contacting this email address between the time that it finished its timeout period in 2009, and late October 2011. eCost.com has changed ESPs since late October, however: it is now using SilverPop.
I suspect that Lyris, eCost.com’s previous ESP and a highly regarded ESP that does not tolerate spam, wasn’t happy with eCost.com’s list acquisition practices. eCost.com runs an affiliate program; it advertises for affiliates in the attached spam. While I’m told that some such programs are well run and well policed and do not result in significant quantities of spam, many affiliate programs are magnets for spam and abuse. They are most commonly seen with snowshoe spam, a much more egregious form of spam than mainsleaze spam, but they do appear in some mainsleaze.
Sending IP: 74.112.67.91
Spam Sample:
Actual Headers:
Received: from mail2398.ecost.mkt2792.com (mail2398.ecost.mkt2792.com [74.112.67.91])
by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
for <xxx>; Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:xx:xx -0600 (CST)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
DomainKey-Signature: <xxx>
Received: by mail2398.ecost.mkt2792.com (PowerMTA(TM) v3.5r16) id <xxx>
for <xxx>; Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:xx:x -0500
(envelope-from <xxx>)
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:xx:xx -0500 (EST)
From: "eCOST.com HotSheet" <info@mail.ecost.com>
Reply-To: info@mail.ecost.com
To: <xxx>
Message-ID: <xxx>
Subject: Cyber Thursday Deals! $199 Dell Notebook. $164 Sony PS3. $18
Linksys Wireless-N. $0.75 Camera Accessory Kit
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_Part_<xxx>"
x-mid: <xxx>
x-job: <xxx>
x-orgId: <xxx>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:v-<xxx>@bounce.ecost.mkt2792.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
Readable Email:
From: eCOST.com HotSheet <info@mail.ecost.com>
To: <spamtrap>
Subject: Cyber Thursday Deals! $199 Dell Notebook. $164 Sony PS3. $18
Linksys Wireless-N. $0.75 Camera Accessory Kit
Reply-To: info@mail.ecost.com
To ensure future delivery of emails, please add to your safe sender list or address book. – info@mail.ecost.com
To view this email as a webpage go here http://links.ecost.mkt2792.com/ctt?<xxx>
Just In ( =E2=80=A6 and Will Not Last ! )
Dell Latitude D630 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Notebook PC 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2GB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive, DVDRW, Gigabit Ethernet, Wireless, 14.1″ Display, Windows XP Professional Loaded with Media -Refurbished / Recertified- – D630/2.2C2D/2/80/XPP
http://links.ecost.mkt2792.com/ctt?<xxx>
<removed>
Want some free cash? Do you have a Website? Join the eCOST.com Affiliate Program today! Click Here!
http://links.ecost.mkt2792.com/ctt?<xxx>
2011, All Rights Reserved – eCOST.com, Inc.
2555 West 190th St. Torrance, CA 90504
We respect your right to privacy – view our policy.
http://links.ecost.mkt2792.com/ctt?<xxx>
If you no longer wish to receive this special offer newsletter, then click on the link below, and you will automatically be removed from our list.
http://www.<xxx>/ecostcom/OptOut/OptOut?<xxx>