tedm at ipinc
Oct 27, 2009, 1:26 PM
Post #3 of 11
(260 views)
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Alex wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to figure out if this is spam:
>
> http://pastebin.com/m64a38b1
>
I don't have an opinion on the sender in question but we
have seen an increasing number of mails of this type - call
it "pseudo-spam" if you will.
What it is, is legitimate companies who are using the
-flimsiest- of excuses, for example the person put their
e-mail address down on a reader response card, or an
application for a credit card, or some such - and then
spamming them.
For example we have 2 large grocery store chains that do
this here - they both have "preferred customer" programs
where you can sign up to be a preferred customer then you
get a discount on certain things. The signup asks for
your e-mail address, (It doesn't require it, just asks,
and people are so used to filling out things they do it
anyway) and it doesn't specifically say they
are going to use the address to spam you, but it doesn't
NOT say they are going to spam you.
Then they wait 6 months or so until the person has forgot
what they put their e-mail address down on, and they
start spamming.
Of course, all unsubscribe links work, unsubscribing
actually does unsubscribe the user, all the domains are
legitimate, the "great deals" and coupons that they e-mail
out are all legitimate. For all intents and purposes
the messages LOOK like legitimate mailing list messages.
However, in my opinion what really gives it away AS spam
is PRECISELY because they are using SPF, DKIM, and Habeas.
In other words, if they really weren't spammers and just
a mailing list, they wouldn't bother bending over backwards
to make it appear like they are not spammers.
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks"
is the logic going on here.
I realize this may seem like an impossible barrier to
companies that want to run legitimate mailing lists, my
answer to that is "opt-in" mailing lists.
Ted
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