MainSleaze

This issue has been resolved. The blog remains posted because blogs shouldn’t disappear, to make sure that Google and other search engines and archives get the update, and in hopes that other people can learn something from it and the comments. 🙂

Elephanti, a web portal for shoppers geared towards those who use mobile apps, today for the first time sent advertising emails to two spamtraps. Neither spamtrap had ever heard from Elephanti before, and both were closed in 2008. The ESP is Sendgrid.

The Elephanti web site is apparently still in beta, which suggests that this is a startup. That would account for the ignorance Elephanti shows about the proper way to send bulk email. First, that a company “built a unique business” is not a reason to send them bulk email. The ONLY legitimate reason to send bulk email to anybody is because they asked you to send it to them. Second, sending bulk email from <noreply@elephanti.com> was also a bad move. It’s rude to send email to people whom you do not want to hear from via email.

Sendgrid, I suspect that somebody at Elephanti or a marketing company that they hired purchased a list. You know how to educate customers about bulk email; please do so with these customers. They obviously can use the help. 🙂

Sending IP: 208.115.235.233

Spam Sample:

Actual Headers:

Received: from o1.mailer.sendible.com (o1.mailer.sendible.com [208.115.235.233])
        by <xxx> (Postfix) with SMTP id <xxx>
        for <xxx>; Fri,  1 Jun 2012 12:xx:xx -0000 (UT)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
Received: by 10.12.xx.xx with SMTP id <xxx>
        Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:xx:xx -0000
Received: from sendible.com (unknown [10.9.xx.xx])
        by mi16 (SG) with ESMTP id <xxx>
        for <xxx>; Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:xx:xx -0500 (CST)
Received: from mail pickup service by sendible.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
         Fri, 1 Jun 2012 12:xx:xx +0000
From: Elephanti <noreply@elephanti.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: <xxx>
Reply-To: Elephanti <noreply@elephanti.com>
Date: 1 Jun 2012 12:xx:xx +0000
Subject: =?utf-8?B?UmVhY2ggeW91ciBjdXN0b21lcnMgbGlrZSBuZXZlciBiZWZvcmU=?=
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Message-ID: <Sendible-<xxx>@sendible.com>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: <xxx>
X-Sendgrid-EID: <xxx>
X-Sendgrid-ID: <xxx>

Readable Email:

From: Elephanti <noreply@elephanti.com>
To: <spamtrap>
Subject: Reach your customers like never before
Reply-To: Elephanti <noreply@elephanti.com>

You’re reading this because you’ve built a unique business, and we have a game-changing way to help customers find it, whether they’re across town or across the street.

We are Elephanti, a growing online and mobile network that’s revolutionizing how you connect with shoppers. When you create a merchant profile with Elephanti, you can:

• Enjoy a virtual storefront targeted at shoppers interested in your products
• Offer loyalty rewards and special offers to your best customers
• Socially engage with your customers and keep them informed of latest updates.

<removed>

___

This message was intended for <xxx>. If you do not wish to receive this type of email in the future, please unsubscribe from this list.
http://tracker.sendible.com/messages/<xxx>