Mar
06

Verizon Wireless: Advertising Cell Phone Service to a Spamtrap

U.S.-based mobile telephone company Verizon Wireless today sent a bulk email advertisement to a spamtrap that has not existed since 2003. The spamtrap has not previously received email from Verizon Wireless since it came out of timeout and became a spamtrap. Nonetheless, the spam claims, “You recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers.” This is not true for any reasonable definition of “recently”. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Mar
04

RealAge: Telling Spamtraps How Old They Really Are

Health assessment web site RealAge just set a number of bulk email advertisements to spamtrap addresses yesterday. The spamtraps might have been legitimate email addresses at one time, but none were live after 2008. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Mar
02

Necco: Offering Sweet Things to Spamtraps

Vintage U.S. candy maker Necco® set bulk email advertisements to two spamtrap addresses in the past 36 hours. The spamtraps might have been legitimate email addresses at one time, but not after 2005. Despite this, the email claims that these email addresses “recently registered with a network site to receive special online offers.” This is not true for any reasonable definition of “recent”. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Feb
26

Chadwicks of Boston: Selling Clothing to a Spamtrap

Mail-order women’s clothing retailer Chadwicks of Boston is sending bulk email advertisements to a spamtrap email address that was closed in 2004. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Feb
21

Blair: *Still* Selling Clothes, Accessories, and Home Goods to a Spamtrap

Almost three months after I blogged about spam from Blair, a U.S.-based mail order operation, the spam continues unabated to that spamtrap. Whatever the original reasons for this email address being on Blair’s list, they don’t seem concerned that their email is hitting a spamtrap. Their ESP is Yesmail, a division of Infogroup.

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Feb
16

Hewlett Packard: Emailing ANOTHER Long-Closed Email Address

Hewlett Packard is sending bulk email advertisements to a spamtrap email address that was closed in 2005. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Jan
13

American Media, Inc.: Selling Magazines to a Spamtrap

U.S.-based publisher American Media, Inc. is sending email advertisements for Reality Weekly Magazine to an email address that has not belonged to a real person for over four years. This email address has not previously received email from American Media since it completed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Jan
12

California State Board of Equalization: Collecting Taxes From a Spamtrap?

The California State Board of Equalization, the tax authority of the U.S. state of California, sent a bulk email reminder to pay taxes to an email address that was closed in 2003 and has not received legitimate email for many, MANY years. Nonetheless, like most email sent by ESP Yesmail from this particular set of IPs, the spam claims that this long-dead email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”.

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Jan
09

IKEA US: Spamming a Role Address With No Pretense of Opt-In

The United States branch of Swedish home furnishings company IKEA is sending spam to a role email address, an email address that never sent mail or signed onto bulk email lists, advertising furniture and home products. The advertising email states that the spammed email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”. This is not true. Other language in the spam invites the spam victim to sign up for their list, which appears to acknowledge that IKEA knows that the owner of this email address did not in fact ask for email from IKEA. In short, IKEA appears to have purchased a list and to make no effort to hide that fact. The ESP is Yesmail, a division of InfoGroup.

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Dec
17

Lenox: Selling Fine China to Spamtraps

Lenox, the highly-regarded American maker of fine china, is sending email to an email address that — if it ever existed — was closed before 2008. The email indicates that this email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”. As with Fuddruckers and a significant amount of other spam sent by ESP Yesmail, this is not true for any reasonable definition of “recently”. Either Lenox is allowing users to subscribe via a web form and is not confirming subscriptions, or Lenox purchased a list.

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