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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Dec
16

Dollar Rent-A-Car: Hitting a Spamtrap Instead of a Real User?

U.S automobile rental business Dollar Rent-A-Car is suddenly sending bulk email to an email address that a) did not request it and b) has never existed. In this case, the likely cause is that a certain user at a large U.S. ISP *did* request this email or at least rent a car from Dollar without unchecking the “send me offers” check box on their web site, but provided a typoed email address that Dollar did not confirm before placing it on their list. In other words, these offers are going to a spamtrap *instead of* to a customer who almost certainly requested them and is likely to want them. The ESP is Responsys.

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Jul
25

Toshiba: Deals on Super-Light Laptops… for a Spamtrap

Toshiba America’s consumer and small business direct sales portal Toshiba Direct is sending bulk email to yet another email address that did not request it. Toshiba appears to be spamming non-opted-in email addresses: possibly a very old customer list that has not been properly maintained, possibly a purchased or epended list, or possibly a combination of both. The ESP is once again Responsys.

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May
16

United Airlines: Deals on Plane Tickets! For a… Spamtrap

United Airlines, a major U.S. based airline with routes around the world, just sent a bulk email advertisement to an email address that never heard from it before. The spamtrap address was closed in 2004. Nonetheless, the email contains a name and a OnePass (United’s frequent flyer program) number or scrambled version of it in the header and a masked version in the message body. This suggests one of two possibilities: that United is emailing uncontacted email addresses after years of ignoring bounces and undeliverables, or possibly that United hired an e-append firm. The ESP is Responsys.

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May
14

B&Q: Sending Product Recall Notices to Large Numbers of Spamtraps

B&Q, a large U.K.-based home improvement retailer, is sending product recall notices to a large number of email addresses that were closed years ago, some as long as a decade ago. I have seen occasional B&Q spams to one-off spamtrap email addresses before, but nothing like this. The ESP is Responsys.

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Mar
06

Symantec Corporation: Advertising Ghost to …ghosts, er, spamtraps

Symantec are advertising Ghost Solution Suite to outdated contacts of theirs and thereby continue to demonstrate their lack of respect for the recipient’s opt-out. Now there’s nothing spectacular about senders not removing bounces, but Symantec have been informed of the domain having changed hands and hence their contacts being outdated in June 2011, and again in November 2011, over the phone, even, as well as their rep having been pointed to the earlier posts here.  The ESP is Responsys, as before, who have failed to note the issue in any way – I’m labeling this an ESP problem as well.

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Feb
15

Coupons.com: Sending Coupons to a Spamtrap

Coupons.com, a web site that sends emailed coupons for products from major manufacturers and retailers, is sending coupons to an email address that was closed in 2004. Since the domain Coupons.com was first registered in 1994, the original owner of this email address might have requested these emails. However, the address has not been active for eight years. For four of those years, it rejected all email at SMTP time with a 500-level rejection. Coupon.com might have ignored bounces for those years, might have left the email address uncontacted for years, or might have accepted a typoed email address and failed to confirm it. A purchased list is also a possibility. The ESP is Responsys.

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Jan
31

Men’s Wearhouse: Try This Spam On For Size

The Men’s Wearhouse is sending spam, thanking you for joining some program of theirs.

This single spam was sent to the personal address of this blogger, who never gave them his email address and never signed up for this program.

Could be a sign of a much larger spam problem, I guarantee it.  ESP is Responsys.

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Jan
18

Burt’s Bees: Now Spamming a Spamtrap Near Me….

Burt’s Bees, a popular U.S.-based natural cosmetics manufacturing company, is now sending bulk emails to a spamtrap that it allegedly updated via the opt-out FreshAddress service several weeks ago. Despite this futile and pointless attempt to turn an opt-out email address into an opt-in email address, their email still hit one of my spamtraps. It will likely hit several others when the rest of the list is mailed. The ESP is Responsys.

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Dec
11

Adam & Eve: Just *How* Old is Your List?

Adam & Eve, an online retailer of “adult products” (sex toys, x-rated DVDs, etc.), is sending bulk emails to an email address that was closed in 2008. This email address has not received email from Adam & Eve since it passed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap in mid-2010. Despite that, the email addresses the recipient as “Customer”. If this email address was ever used by a customer of Adam & Eve, it was closed almost four years ago, and rejected all email for an eighteen-month period in the interim. The ESP is Responsys.

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