Feb
24

January 2015 ESP Spam: Some Notes….

I see that Atro Tossavainen graphed the spam that we saw in January. Atro and I manage a substantial spamtrap collection together, so I have seen what he posted about. Nothing there surprised me except the hugely disproportionate amount of spam Topica sends to our spamtraps. I’ve blogged twice about Topica, and in the last blog recommended blocking their /22 because of the amounts of spam and probability that little or no non-spam email is sent from them any more. However, I did not realize that we were seeing twice as much spam from Topica as from ExactTarget, which sends several orders of magnitude more email than they do.

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Jul
24

P. R. Paige: Spamming to Advertise His New Book

P. R. Paige, who has written a “romantic comedy” (his term) about male infidelity, is emailing advertisements for that book to a very dirty purchased list. Mr. Paige’s spam just barely qualifies as Mainsleaze, but it was sent through ESP Constant Contact.

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Sep
27

Political Spam Today: Now Obama and Boxer Pile On…

Today’s take: several spamtrap hits from President Barack Obama, with his name front and center in the From header, four spamtrap hits from Senator Barbara Boxer, a few spams from SuperPACs, and a single spam from a peace activist group that only creeps into the category of political spam because it expresses support for a few candidates. If somebody had planned this to remind me that both political campaigns are running less-than-opt-in mailing lists, they could not have done a better job. (The Romney campaign appears to have taken the day off.)

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May
14

(Resolved): Selling Water Purification to an E-Pended Spamtrap

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. 🙂

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Jan
07

Green’s Toyota of Lexington: Just *Where* Did That Email Address Come From?

Green’s Toyota of Lexington, a Kentucky automobile dealer with an online sales portal, is sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that was closed in 2007. That email address had not previously received email from this company after it was re-enabled in 2009. Either Green’s Toyota has emailed a very old list that was left uncontacted for years, or Green’s Toyota purchased a list. The ESP is Constant Contact.

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Nov
21

Horse Tourneys: Inviting a Spamtrap to the Races

Horse Tourneys, an affiliate of Ellis Park Race Course, is sending bulk advertising email to an email address that has been closed since 2007. Horse Tourneys may not confirm web form subscriptions, may be emailing a fallow list, or may have purchased a list. The ESP is Constant Contact.

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Nov
01

SC Fuels: Purchased List? Sure Looks Like It….

SC Fuels, a national distributor of automotive fuel and home heating oil, is spamming an email address that was closed in 2002, at least a year before its own domain was registered. I see no way that an email address closed in 2002 and not re-enabled as a spamtrap til 2005 could be on this sender’s list except because of a typo combined with failure to confirm subscriptions, or a purchased list. The ESP is Constant Contact.

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Oct
25

MarketTaker: Spamming a Closed Email Address

Stock options mentoring site Market Taker Mentoring LLC is sending bulk email to a long-closed email address. The ESP is Constant Contact.

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Oct
21

PositivePrint: Emailing a Spamtrap

PositivePrint, an Internet-based print house, is sending bulk email to a spamtrap via ESP Constant Contact. The spamtrap is a long-closed email address that has not been live for years, and that rejected email for over twelve consecutive months in the interim before being re-enabled. It should not receive any bulk email any longer.

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