In reference to my Nov 15 post on the topic.
It’s illegal spam. The plaintext content does not indicate the address source (mandatory requirement as per law), nor a way of getting removed from the mailing list. The HTML content may indicate an address source, but I just can’t view it with Mutt…
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.
I mentioned them here about a month ago. They have yet another spam^Wemail service provider, and it’s business as usual at Vistaprint: spam, even after the recipient has opted out. That’s illegal spam, in case you didn’t know.
Emerald for Executives and Professionals, Inc. is sending personalised spam to an employee of the previous owner of the spamtrap domain. I wonder if this qualifies as mainsleaze; it looks rather more like the garden variety of spam.
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.
First Chase Bank sent marketing emails that contained personal names and credit card information to spamtraps. Now Citibank is doing the same thing. Today Citibank sent a bulk marketing email to an email address that, if it ever existed at all, has been closed since 2007. The email contained a name and the last four digits of a credit card number. Either Citibank is deliberately including made-up “customer” information to make bulk marketing email look more legitimate (which I doubt), or Citibank has badly mismanaged its customer list *AND* (worse) is including sensitive personal information in marketing emails that are going to unconfirmed and incorrect email addresses. The ESP is Epsilon Interactive via its ESP Bigfoot Interactive.
Horse Tourneys, an affiliate of Ellis Park Race Course, is sending bulk advertising email to an email address that has been closed since 2007. Horse Tourneys may not confirm web form subscriptions, may be emailing a fallow list, or may have purchased a list. The ESP is Constant Contact.