The online storefront for dELiA*s, a women’s clothing store in the United States, is sending email advertisements to a spamtrap that closed several years ago. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
Time Europe recently started to send their “Weekly Edition” summaries of stories to an email address at my employer that was closed before I started to work there. I re-enabled it in 2010 as a spamtrap. I do not doubt that many people have asked for the attached email, but this email address did not ask for any bulk email after 2001. The ESP is CheetahMail.
The “Rewards” program for coffee, tea and pastry retailer Starbucks just sent an email advertisement for the first time to an email address that closed in 2002. This email address has been among my spamtraps for years; Starbucks has never emailed it before. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
Bloomingdale’s, a high-end New York-based department store, started sending email advertisements about a week ago to an email address that closed in 2007. Unless Bloomingdale’s was foolish enough to resurrect a list that has not been contacted in over four years, they must have purchased a list or hired an e-append provider. Since the email address is matched with a plausible but incorrect name, my money is on the second option. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
Tractor Supply Company, a Tennessee-based company that sells farming supplies both online and in stores, just sent an advertisement email for the first time to an email address that, if it ever existed, was closed in 2004. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
TravelSmith, an online travel-related clothing and accessories retailer, has been sending bulk email advertisements for many months (since I first noticed) to an email address that been closed since 2005. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
This morning when I logged on and checked my spamtrap, I found over two dozen spams from Turkish Airlines, which I believe is the national airline in Turkey. Somebody — specifically, somebody responsible for Turkish Airlines Iran, if the From addresses are any clue — purchased a very dirty list. I don’t recall ever seeing spam from Turkish Airlines before, so if Turkish Airlines has no idea how this came about, I would recommend investigating the marketing department for somebody who believes in the tooth fairy, responds to 419 Advance Fee Fraud scams, and thinks that there is such a thing as an “opt-in” list for sale. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
Homedirectory, a Singapore-based web portal offering deals in home supplies and family products that is part of the Streetdirectory family, just sent their April newsletter to the administration role address for the Usenet newsgroup soc.religion.islam. Either Homedirectory or somebody else scraped this address or purchased a list, because this address does not subscribe to receive any bulk email. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
U.S. grocer Safeway is suddenly sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that been closed since at least 2007. This email address has not previously received email from Safeway since it completed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. Either somebody made a typo when subscribing to receive Safeway offers (unlikely in this case), Safeway reactivated a VERY old list that they had not contacted for years, or Safeway purchased a list. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.