Vintage U.S. candy maker Necco® set bulk email advertisements to two spamtrap addresses in the past 36 hours. The spamtraps might have been legitimate email addresses at one time, but not after 2005. Despite this, the email claims that these email addresses “recently registered with a network site to receive special online offers.” This is not true for any reasonable definition of “recent”. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.
Mail-order women’s clothing retailer Chadwicks of Boston is sending bulk email advertisements to a spamtrap email address that was closed in 2004. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.
Almost three months after I blogged about spam from Blair, a U.S.-based mail order operation, the spam continues unabated to that spamtrap. Whatever the original reasons for this email address being on Blair’s list, they don’t seem concerned that their email is hitting a spamtrap. Their ESP is Yesmail, a division of Infogroup.
Hewlett Packard is sending bulk email advertisements to a spamtrap email address that was closed in 2005. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.
U.S.-based publisher American Media, Inc. is sending email advertisements for Reality Weekly Magazine to an email address that has not belonged to a real person for over four years. This email address has not previously received email from American Media since it completed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.
The California State Board of Equalization, the tax authority of the U.S. state of California, sent a bulk email reminder to pay taxes to an email address that was closed in 2003 and has not received legitimate email for many, MANY years. Nonetheless, like most email sent by ESP Yesmail from this particular set of IPs, the spam claims that this long-dead email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”.
The United States branch of Swedish home furnishings company IKEA is sending spam to a role email address, an email address that never sent mail or signed onto bulk email lists, advertising furniture and home products. The advertising email states that the spammed email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”. This is not true. Other language in the spam invites the spam victim to sign up for their list, which appears to acknowledge that IKEA knows that the owner of this email address did not in fact ask for email from IKEA. In short, IKEA appears to have purchased a list and to make no effort to hide that fact. The ESP is Yesmail, a division of InfoGroup.
Lenox, the highly-regarded American maker of fine china, is sending email to an email address that — if it ever existed — was closed before 2008. The email indicates that this email address “recently registered with a network website to receive special online offers”. As with Fuddruckers and a significant amount of other spam sent by ESP Yesmail, this is not true for any reasonable definition of “recently”. Either Lenox is allowing users to subscribe via a web form and is not confirming subscriptions, or Lenox purchased a list.
Fuddruckers, a high-end hamburger restaurant in the United States, is sending bulk email to an email address that has not belonged to a real person since 2007, offering the owner of that email address the chance to win a $500 gift card for “liking” Fuddruckers on Facebook. 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 Fuddruckers is allowing users to subscribe via a web form and is not confirming subscriptions, or Fuddruckers purchased a list. The ESP is Yesmail, a division of InfoGroup.
Honeybaked Ham, a well-known U.S. company that sells hams and delicatessen items, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed before 2008, stating that it will continue sending offers unless and until the owner of that email address unsubscribes. Since at least late 2009, this email address has not received email from this sender. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of InfoGroup.