Comments for Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

Comment from Nick on 2008-10-14

2008-10-14T16:39:07Z

On Sept 23rd I wrote "I'm going to conduct a wee experiment. What I'll do is create another new disposable email address and sign up to your newsletter again with it, and see whether the spammers find it again. If they do I'll let you know." Well, it seems to have worked, as I am no longer receiving the spam.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from Ray on 2008-09-24

2008-09-24T19:59:44Z

Thanks Leo! I was just wondering.

I have gotten spam through my GMail account. I'd used Google Checkout and it turned out the merchant's computer was infected. Google doesn't scan checkout related mail for spam. Fortunately, you can elect not to receive e-mail from checkout merchants, which solve that problem.

As I explained elsewhere, through my own domain I've created a primary e-mail account whose address I give to friends and relatives. For everyone else I create a individual custom domain forward to my primary account. If I ever start getting spam through a forward, I'll just delete it and create a new one for the merchant or organization.

Since setting up about four months ago, the amount of spam I receive has went from over a hundred a day to zero. Of course this method can't be used by e-mail accounts that must accept messages from arbitrary senders.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from Terry Hollett on 2008-09-24

2008-09-24T12:39:33Z

I have 4 email accounts. My main one is at Yahoo, for my web site. I have an Hotmail one because my relatives started using MSN Messenger. I have a Gmail account - reason still unknown - it seemed like a good idea at the time. I also have my email from my ISP.

I have never given or used the Gmail account but when I log in the Spam folder has currently 1283 emails. Amazingly, the spam in the other accounts have dropped considerabily.

I use to average between 150 to 200 emails daily. That has dropped to about 30 - I take no credit for it :-).

http://www.geocities.com/terryhollett2003/

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from Fred on 2008-09-23

2008-09-24T06:22:51Z

And spam can already be directed to the address.
As in: someone already had it, did something stupid, got plenty spam, closed the account, then you get the account, and the spam is still coming......

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from Ray on 2008-09-23

2008-09-23T23:58:01Z

Leo,

All good explanations. I also like the "dumb luck" and "random" explanation, though hardly dumb luck or random. When I was on Earthlink, about once a week I'd be cc'd on an e-mail with a nonsensical message in the body. The sender wasn't even shy about hiding the cc list:

aaaaaa@earthlink.com; aaaaab@earthlink.com; aaaaac@earthlink.com; aaaaad@earthlink.com; ...

or some similar progressive block of 20 to 30 addresses that happened to contain mine. Earthlink could have easily blocked such "fishing" expeditions (at the time they were running an expensive TV ad complain touting their anti-spam team) but refused to do so even after repeated complaints.

Don't get me started on free WiFi increasingly common in hotels and airports. They routinely harvest information such as e-mail addresses, legally if you agree to their TOS.

Leo, what is AWeber and what user information do you share with them?

AWeber is the service I use to send my weekly newsletter. When you sign up for that they're the one's collecting your email address and confirmation, and then once a week they're the ones who actually send the email. They're perhaps the most respected email service provider in the industry.

- Leo
23-Sep-2008

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Nick on 2008-09-23

2008-09-23T18:46:55Z

The experiment continues. I've re-subscribed using (as Leo can see) a new but similar disposable email address. I shall check in my Trash folder over the next few days to see whether any spam arrives addressed to the new address.

Incidentally, I'm also glad to have re-subscribed for another reason, as it means I get a copy of Leo's e-book on Internet Safety, which I am looking forward to perusing.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Nick on 2008-09-23

2008-09-23T16:16:38Z

Thanks for that Leo. I'm going to conduct a wee experiment. What I'll do is create another new disposable email address and sign up to your newsletter again with it, and see whether the spammers find it again. If they do I'll let you know.

It's only that one firm of spammers, btw, that I mentioned in my previous comment on the subject.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from RJ on 2008-09-22

2008-09-22T16:49:22Z

Yeah, like Dan mentioned, it's also likely that they could have just used random word generators to try and mail to every possible e-mail your provider could give out. One thing that's unfortunate about e-mails vice regular mail (at least in a spammer perspective) is that there is effectiely no cost from the spammer's view to send an e-mail, even if they send it to a hundred, a thousand, or even a million addresses at once. The cost only gets applied on the recipients' mail servers, who need to handle the flood of spam coming for their members.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from Dan Ullman on 2008-09-22

2008-09-22T16:33:25Z

Leo, you forgot to list dumb luck. Spammers send mail to likely but not known if working addresses. Even unlikely addresses. I once made a throw-away hotmail address that I never used. Random letters for the most part. It got one spam.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

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Comment from Ziggie on 2008-09-22

2008-09-22T13:21:47Z

Sadly, Anthony, you probably won't as the e-mail address is in some spammer's database somewhere. Sad, but true.

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Anthony on 2008-09-21

2008-09-21T16:21:54Z

Thanks to this article i found out why my kids e-mail was getting spam her e-mail was published. in her help forum profile. now that i had her change that i hope to see a drastic reduce in amount of spam. Thanks Leo and thanks Google

You'll probably not see a reduction, since that email address has already been harvested by spammers. :-(

- Leo
22-Sep-2008

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A comment on: Why am I getting spam on this email address I use only for one newsletter?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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