Either all major list companies have a massive security leak or everyone DOES sell emails...

For years I've been use a catch all account on my domains. I do this so I can track my emails and where they are ending up.

When using a "catch-all" account you can set it to send all unrouted emails to a certain address or you can discard them into a black hole. Catch all accounts are handy because you can just come up with email addresses as you go along and they will all route to your catch all account.

I use mailbox @ my domain .com that way I can just create emails such as "support @, admin @, webmaster @, sales @, ...etc as I need and they will all route to mailbox @ which is the only account I do a send and receive from but there's another good use for a catch all account.

When I arrive at your website I will use yourdomain @ mydomain .com so that way when you send me an email I will know where it comes from. Here's the problem...

Within a few hours (sometimes), a few days (often) or eventually (most of the time) these emails will end up on spam lists. I flew to San Diego once for a seminar from someone that everyone knows. Probably the most famous name in IM at the moment. It was a pitch fest (sad) but I ended up buying a few products and left my email several times. By the time I got back to Australia I was receiving spam on all accounts. ALL ACCOUNTS!

And these are some massive industry names and no, they are not sharing the emails with their buddies I'm talking proper porn, virus laden, irrelevant, totally uncalled for, disgusting and dangerous spam in every sense of the word.

Now, some of it comes from people guessing emails (e.g. spammers will often send an email to every human name or possible corporate officer at mydomain .com) and I expect a lot of that and have rules to deal with it so that all mails with common spam words or obvious rude words go straight in the bin) but I am gob-smacked when it happens with a "supposedly honourable" person. My only guess is that there is a massive leak somewhere in the major email delivery services.

So what's going on here? Does aweber (most of them use aweber) have a massive security leak (it's been happening for years) or when people say "we will not ever share or sell your email" they are lying straight to our faces? So if you've ever wondered where most of the spam is coming from, now you know. Somehow our emails are getting passed around at alarming speed. I've been testing this for years and it recently happened again so I thought I'd post about it to see if this sounds right or if maybe there is another explanation.

I agree about the disclaimer. I chuckle when I see it. Sometimes I even suggest that people leave it off their pages all together.

I agree about the Aweber puzzle and maybe I'm picking on them unfairly but something's going on. I don't really believe that people are selling them and I can't believe that aweber has a security leak that has remained unplugged for years. Maybe it's virus on people's machines? That's a possibility, but all of us? It just happens way to often and has been happening for years. I just thought I'd mention it.