Nov
17

Air Wick: Selling Air Freshener to Spamtraps

Air Wick, a subsidiary of U.K.-based multinational home products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser, is sending bulk email to email addresses that have been closed for many years. None of these email addresses has received marketing emails from Air Wick via any ESP since they finished their timeout period and were re-enabled as spamtraps. Either Air Wick is emailing a list that has not been contacted since before 2008, or Air Wick has purchased one or more lists. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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Nov
15

Chase Bank: A Spamtrap is “an Amazon.com Business Rewards Visa cardmember”?

Chase Bank is sending advertising emails to an email address that has been closed for many years, claiming that the owner is “an Amazon.com Business Rewards Visa cardmember”. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.

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Nov
15

Fonecta Oy: Still at it

In reference to my Oct 12 post on the topic.

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Nov
15

8×8, Inc.: Emailing 4+-Year-Old Email Addresses?

Integrated information technology company 8×8, Inc. is sending bulk email to email addresses that have been closed for many years. The presence of these email addresses on 8×8’s list could be due to emailing a fallow opt-in list that had not been contacted since before 2008 (a foolish error), or to a purchased list. The ESP is Marketo.

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Nov
15

Red Plum: Emailing a Purchased List?

RedPlum, a coupon and deals portal, is sending bulk email to an email address that has not existed since 2007. Nonetheless, the attached spam states that the email address “recently registered with a partner site to receive special offers”, and the email associates a name with the email address that never belonged to it. It is possible that Red Plum is simply including a misleading and inaccurate statement in its bulk email to head off spam complaints, but the long-closed email address and the bogus name taken together strongly suggest that Red Plum is using a recently purchased e-pended list. :/ The ESP is Yesmail, a division of InfoGroup.

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Nov
14

General Mills Bell Institute: Emailing a Long-Closed Email Address

Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, a research wing of multinational food giant General Mills, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2007. Bell Institute has not emailed this email address since it was re-enabled after its timeout period in 2010. Either Bell Institute is emailing a list that has been allowed to lie fallow for years, has failed to process bounces, or is using a purchased list. The ESP is SilverPop.

This issue was marked “resolved”, but the spam started up again at the end of November 2011.

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Nov
14

As We Change: Selling Women’s Products to a Male Spamtrap over 40? ;)

Clothing and accessories retailer As We Change, whose target market is “women over 40”, is sending bulk email to an email address that belonged to a single man before it was closed in 2007. After looking through this seller’s catalog, I seriously doubt that anything in it would have been of interest to the previous owner of this spamtrap. 😉 The ESP is E-Dialog.

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Nov
14

Paula Young: Selling Hair Pieces to a Purchased List?

Paula Young, a US-based company that sells wigs and hair pieces, is sending bulk email to two email addresses that have not been live since 2008. The presence of two old email addresses on Paula Young’s list suggests one of three things: that this list has not been mailed for several years, that Paula Young ignored bounces in 2008-2010, or that Paula Young purchased a list. The ESP is ExactTarget.

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Nov
14

QualityHealth: Emailing an Old Email Address

QualityHealth, a web portal with a wide variety of health-related information, is sending bulk email to an email address that cannot have been live after 2008, and probably never existed. The ESP is ExactTarget.

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Nov
14

Accutech Home Inspection: Emailing a Spamtrap

Accutech Home Inspection, a New Jersey-based company that inspects houses for sale and provides purchasers and lenders with a report on the home’s features and condition, is sending bulk email to an email address that has never existed except in the fertile mind of a spammer some years ago, when he or she created the email address and added it to a list for sale. The presence of this address on Accutech’s list could be due to a typo in a web subscription form combined with failure to confirm web form subscriptions (a foolish error), or to a purchased list. The ESP is Sendgrid.

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