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Did you guys sell our contacts to spammers outside the site?

AgitAgit Member Posts: 25
in Help Desk

Hi there,

About a year ago I used a virgin email account to register for an mmorpg.com account. In the time that this account has been setup I have not used it for any other site sign ups, or have made it available in any way except for mmorpg.com.

I get at least 10-15 spam messages a day, either mmoprg.com is selling address lists or their contest sponsors are selling them. I use the same web mail (gmail.com) service for other accounts that are unused for anything but one specific site as well, and never receive any spam.

Has mmorpg.com or one of their sponsors harvested our addresses to sell to spammers?

If your sponsors have sold our contact info, you really should be attempting to determine who it is/was and STOP allowing them to sponsor contests.

P.S. Keep up the good work otherwise

Comments

  • The-RavenThe-Raven Member Posts: 234

    I am only guessing but my guess is that your email provider got their server farmed.

    This is not to be confused with a "server farm" which is a bunch of servers.

    Getting your email server "farmed" is when a program is used to continuelly create random emails that go to a specific email server.  

    If the server responds with a "hit" then that address is "harvested" for future use.

    Usally the individuals that do this are not the same people as those that actually do send the spam.  Nope, these guys make thier money by selling the email lists to the spammers.

    I am not saying this site did or did not sell any lists, I am just saying that there are SOOOOOO many people out there trying to get your email address that it would be hard to point a finger in the right direction.

  • AgitAgit Member Posts: 25

    Like I said it's Gmail.

    I have 4 other accounts used for specific sites, and not one other account gets any spam. if a server were compromised, and the account database was jacked, my other accounts would be receiving spam as well.

    *NONE* of the other accounts get any spam.

    I am familiar with dictionary/incremental attacks for detecting valid addresses. I have also been an internet user for the last 17 years so I am Taking into consideration that it is entirely possible none of the others have been affected, so I am more likely to point the finger at the one single site that has been provided this address........

  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623

    No, we would never do such a thing...ever.  We only give your email to contest sponsors if you opt for that when entering the contest through the checkbox there.

    The only other thing I can think of is that you have the option on your MMORPG.com account set to "show my email" and someone farmed it from our user profile page.

     

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • TaeraTaera Community ManagerMember CommonPosts: 1,078

    Hey Agit,

    Nope, we sure didn't; I'm not sure how your email got out but it wasn't us. :(

    Laura "Taera" Genender
    Community Manager
    MMORPG.com

  • AgitAgit Member Posts: 25

    I realized that sometimes I think faster than I type so I tend to omit some things, it may have been one of your contest sponsors.What I meant to say initially:

    I have only used that account for my account here, and for contests through the site. It may have been a contest sponsor, it appears that some sponsors may be selling addresses.

    I do not usually opt out, so in that regard it is 100% my fault, and I am in no way pointing the finger at mmorpg as being the direct culpret.

    Thanks for the quick response too guys, very appreciated.

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