U.S. software maker Broderbund is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2007. The spam to this email address started up two or three weeks ago; it had not previously received email from Broderbund either directly or via an ESP since it completed its timeout period and was reactivated in 2009. The ESP is ExactTarget.
SalsaLabs, the ESP side of liberal U.S. political activist group Wired for Change, is mailing an email address that has not been live for many years (since before the 2008 presidential election), thanking it for expressing interest in Salsalabs’ services (like, *when*?) and asking for the person behind it to watch a demonstration. It appears that SalsaLabs ignored bounces to email to their own list and continues to send email for years despite not having received any responses. This is really lame, Salsalabs. A professional ESP should know better than to keep pounding email addresses that don’t respond!
Catalog retailer Miles Kimball is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2007. The name in the bulk email is female, but the email address before it was closed belonged to a man, which normally indicates an e-pended list. In addition, Miles Kimball’s web site shows “As We Change” as a preferred partner. This is the same e-pended email address that As We Change hit a few weeks ago; I blogged about that at the time. Miles Kimball appears to be sharing the same e-pended list with them. The ESP is E-Dialog.
Colonial Candle, a maker of scented and specialty candles, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2008. Colonial Candle may be mailing a fallow list, may be adding web form subscriptions directly to their list without confirming them first (a good way to ensure that typoed email addresses and bogus third-party subscriptions are NOT weeded out), or may have purchased a list. The ESP is Silverpop.
Blair, a U.S.-based department store with an established mail order operation, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed before 2008. Blair might be mailing a fallow email list, might be accepting unconfirmed web form subscriptions, or might have purchased a list. Their ESP is Yesmail, a division of Infogroup.
Bass Pro, a large U.S.-based fishing and sporting goods store, is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in the mid-2000s. Either Bass Pro is mailing an email list that has not been contacted in several years, Bass Pro is accepting unconfirmed web form subscriptions, or Bass Pro purchased a list. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a division of Experian.
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.
That settles it. There is no intelligent life left at Topps. A month after their first mention on the MainSleaze blog and weeks after an SBL listing for their spam, they are *still* spamming. Topps is spamming from its own IPs. If they’d been using an ESP, after the SBL listing the mailings would have stopped at least until they could clean their list and convince Spamhaus to give them another chance.
Solmicro, a vendor of ERP (enterprise resource planning) management solutions, is sending bulk email to an email address that has never existed except in the fertile mind of a spammer who made it up and put it on a list for sale. Either Solmicro is accepting unconfirmed web form subscriptions (along with the attendant typos and third-party signups), or Solmicro purchased a list. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a division of Experian.
J.C. Penney, a major U.S.-based department store, is sending bulk email to an email address that, when live, was assigned to a role account rather than a real person. This email address did not send email and never subscribed to receive email. J. C. Penney may accept unconfirmed web form subscriptions (guaranteeing typos and bogus subscriptions), or may have purchased a list. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a division of Experian.