Nov
25

Gevalia: Selling Coffee to a Spamtrap

Gevalia, a division of Kraft Foods that sells coffee and coffee equipment, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2008. Despite this, the spam that is attached below claims that this email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”. This is untrue. Either Gevalia is accepting unconfirmed web form subscriptions (a fertile source of typoed email addresses and bogus third-party subscriptions), or Gevalia purchased a list. The ESP is Yesmail, a division of Infogroup.

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Nov
17

Spirit Airlines: Spamtraps Fly? Who Knew….

Spirit Airlines, a discount airline based in Miami, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2008. Spirit Airlines may not confirm web form subscriptions (which allows typoed and forged email addresses to be added to its list), may ignore bounces (which allows old/closed email addresses to remain on a list), or may have purchased a list. The ESP is Yesmail, a division of InfoGroup.

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Nov
17

Brakes Plus: Offering to Repair a Spamtrap’s Car?

Brakes Plus, a U.S.-based auto service chain, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed many years ago. The email indicates that this email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”. This is not true for any reasonable definition of “recently”. Either Brakes Plus is allowing users to subscribe via a web form and is not confirming subscriptions (a foolish error), or Brakes Plus purchased a list. The ESP is Yesmail, a division of InfoGroup.

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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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