Vivint, a company that develops and sells wireless home automation and home security systems, is sending bulk emails to an email address that as best I know never existed. The domain was a small domain and only one email address there normally receives any spam but pump’n’dump, botnet style pills, porn, and pirated goods. This isn’t that email address. The ESP is Lyris.
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.
LD Products, an online retailer of inkjet and laser printer ink and supplies, is sending bulk emails to an email address that was closed in 2007. This email address passed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap almost two years ago, but only started receiving email from LD Products a few weeks ago. The ESP is E-Dialog.
Good Sam Club, a subsidiary of outdoor equipment and supply retailer Camping World, is sending bulk emails to an email address that was closed in 2007. This email address has not received email from either Good Sam Club or Camping World since it passed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap, almost two years ago. Nonetheless, the email asserts that the spamtrap opted in to receive emails from Good Sam Club, and offers the recipient a URL to renew his or her membership in the Good Sam Club. So how did this email address, which does not belong to a Good Sam Club member, get on Good Sam Club’s list? The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
American Eagle Outfitters, a U.S.-based clothing company, is sending advertising emails to an email address that was closed before 2008. This email address was reactivated as a spamtrap in mid-2010 after it passed its timeout period. It has not received email from this sender since that time. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.
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.
Westfield, the UK-based owner of shopping malls that has been reported here before for sending unsolicited bulk email, is now emailing a different spamtrap, inviting it to a Hannukah celebration. As before, the ESP is Responsys.
Worldhotels, a marketing portal for the hotel industry, is sending bulk email to an email address that, if it ever existed, was closed before 2009. From early 2010 through the mid-2011, the email address rejected all email with a 500-level error. In the months since it was re-enabled and turned into a spamtrap, this email address has not previously received email from this sender. The ESP is Sendgrid.
Men’s Health Magazine and Books, a subsidary of Rodale Press, is suddenly sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2008, and that has not received email from Men’s Health at least since this email address completed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap. This email address would have long since been removed from any properly-run bulk email list. Properly managed bulk email lists also don’t start suddenly emailing email addresses that they have ignored for several years. The ESP is Acxiom Digital.
Bank of America is sending non-bulk transactional emails to an email address that was closed in 2008, and that subsequently rejected all email for a period of over a year before being re-enabled as a spamtrap. The email contains a customer name and the last four digits of a credit card number. :/ This is not spam; the email was not bulk. However, if Bank of America were paying attention to bounces, it should long since have realized that this email address was not receiving its notifications. Bank of America needs to verify its customer list NOW to fix this security breach. The ESP is ExactTarget.