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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Feb
06

When Users Really DO NOT Want Your Email….

As I was looking through today’s crop of ESP-sent, mostly mainsleaze spam, I kept stumbling across spam sent to some of my most amusing spamtraps. These spamtraps are not typotraps so much as obvious forgeries, the sort of thing that users type when they are asked for an email address, do not want to refuse, and yet do not want to receive email from you either. Any company might have one of these on their list, but I found several companies and a number of ESPs sending to several of these obvious forgeries. Today. In the past 24 hours.

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Nov
22

Valmennustalo Educo Oy: spamming

Valmennustalo Educo Oy (www, biz reg, responsible people) is spamming to sell their services. The ESP iswas MailChimp, one of our favourites, who have already done the needful.

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Jun
17

Blancoa Oy / toimitilaan.fi: Selling office space to spamtraps

Blancoa Oy (www, biz reg, responsible people) is spamming to sell temporary office space to spamtraps. This is not surprising because one of the people (possibly the only person) behind this is Janne Laitinen, also known under the business aliases “Yrityspostia.fi” and “Suunnittelutoimisto Jotain…”. What is surprising is that the ESP is MailChimp, who have been informed.

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May
14

SEO solicitations via spam from MailChimp: Optimointi Pro Oy and MAJ-Yhtiöt Oy

More to come later. Just pointing out that after being thrown off SendGrid for spamming, MAJ-Yhtiöt Oy (www, biz reg, responsible people) is now spamming from MailChimp’s infrastructure, along with their buddies at Optimointi Pro Oy (www, biz reg, responsible people). MailChimp has yet to respond in a sensible manner. MailChimp’s customer is suoraposti.com, aka Nettiapina Oy (www, biz reg, responsible people).

Feb
07

Tmi Toni Artama (U:gin mainos- ja paitapaino, ABIclothing): Selling promo pens to spamtraps

A one-man business from Uusikaupunki (www, biz reg) wants to sell promotional pens to spamtraps. The ESP is MailChimp, the campaign execution has something to do with the advertising agency Mainostoimisto Ilmiö (www, biz reg), and the list is a purchased one (what a surprise) from Fonecta (yet another whopping surprise).

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Sep
28

Political Spam Today: Bill Clinton and Ann Romney Get Into the Act

Nobody took today off, probably because it’s the end of the quarter for FEC reporting. :/ Bill Clinton bright and early, followed by Romney campaign deputy digital director Abe Adams, Senator Al Franken, and Ann Romney. And several other groups. <sigh>

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Apr
16

Advanced Automation: Advertising “MailChimp Email Summit” to a Spamtrap!

Advanced Automation, Inc., a professional services organization for the insurance industry, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2008. This email address has not received email from Advanced Automation via any channel since being re-enabled after timeout as a spamtrap. The ESP is MailChimp, and the spammed email message advertises something it calls the “Mailchimp Email Summit”, which suggests that MailChimp is a customer or partner of Advanced Automation as well as their ESP.

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Dec
15

Americans United: Another Example of Why Subscriptions Should Be Confirmed

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a U.S.-based advocacy group which campaigns against attempts by religious groups to unduly influence politics and government, has just started sending bulk email updates to an email address that was closed in 2007. This email address was in timeout from 2008 through late 2009 before being turned into a spamtrap. Until today, it has received no email from Americans United. The ESP is MailChimp.

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Nov
29

IWA Publishing: Selling Specialist/Technical Books to a Role Address?

IWA Publishing, the publications wing of the International Water Association, is sending bulk email to an old role address that was closed in 2007. The ESP is MailChimp.

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