What are the potential risks of sending emails to addresses scraped from public websites?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 30 Jul 2025
Updated 16 Aug 2025
7 min read
Starting with email outreach can feel exciting, but the source of your email list is crucial. Many consider gathering email addresses from public websites a quick way to build a list. However, this method, often called email scraping or harvesting, comes with substantial risks that can severely impact your email program and overall business.
While an email address might be publicly available, it does not imply consent for unsolicited marketing messages. Ignoring this can lead to serious consequences, not just for your current campaign, but for your long-term email deliverability. I've seen firsthand the damage this approach can inflict on an organization's sender reputation.
It's tempting to think that a small list of scraped addresses from relevant sources, like local educational establishments, won't cause issues. The reality is that even a small volume of unsolicited emails can trigger automated spam filters and human complaints, leading to broader problems.
The impact on sender reputation
One of the most immediate and significant risks of sending to scraped email addresses is the severe damage to your sender reputation. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email service providers (ESPs) closely monitor sending behavior. When recipients mark your emails as spam, or if your emails hit spam traps, it signals to these providers that your sending practices are problematic. This can result in your emails being filtered directly into spam folders or outright blocked for all recipients, regardless of whether they are on a scraped list or have explicitly opted in.
Emails sent to scraped lists often have very low engagement rates, high bounce rates, and elevated complaint rates. These metrics are critical factors in how ISPs (like those used by Google or Microsoft) assess your sender reputation. A poor reputation (also called a low domain reputation) means your legitimate emails, even those to opted-in subscribers, will suffer from poor inbox placement. This can severely hinder your ability to communicate with your actual audience.
Furthermore, many publicly listed email addresses, especially generic ones like info@ or admin@, are often monitored by spam filtering services. These addresses can act as honeypots or spam traps, designed specifically to catch senders who use scraped lists. Hitting these traps instantly flags you as a spammer, leading to your IP address or domain being added to major blocklists (or blacklists), which is incredibly difficult to recover from.
Legal and compliance pitfalls
Beyond technical deliverability issues, sending emails to scraped lists carries significant legal risks. Regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe, and Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) have strict requirements regarding consent for email marketing. Sending unsolicited emails to addresses obtained without explicit consent can lead to substantial fines and legal action.
While some legal interpretations vary, the consensus among privacy advocates and regulatory bodies is that publicly available email addresses do not equate to consent for marketing. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), responsible for enforcing CAN-SPAM, views sending unsolicited commercial email to addresses harvested from websites as a violation. For more details on the legal landscape of web scraping, consider reading this article. Fines can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars depending on the jurisdiction and the scale of the violation. Our article on the dangers of scraping emails and ignoring CAN-SPAM discusses this in further detail.
For example, GDPR non-compliance can result in fines up to 20 million Euros or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is higher. Ignorance of these laws is not a defense, and legal proceedings can also cause immense reputational harm.
The nature of public email addresses
Publicly listed email addresses are typically for specific communication purposes (e.g., customer support, media inquiries), not for unsolicited marketing outreach. Misusing them can violate expectations and lead to negative responses.
Operational challenges and blocklisting
Sending to scraped lists introduces a host of operational challenges. High bounce rates clog your email sending infrastructure and can lead to your email service provider suspending your account. When recipients mark your emails as spam, it contributes to your spam complaint rate, which is another key metric ISPs use to evaluate your sender trustworthiness.
If your sending IP or domain lands on an email blocklist (or blacklist), your emails will be rejected by most major email providers. This impacts not only your marketing emails but potentially critical transactional emails like password resets, order confirmations, or customer service communications. Getting delisted from a blocklist can be a lengthy and arduous process, often requiring significant changes to your email acquisition and sending practices. We have a comprehensive guide explaining what happens when your domain is on an email blacklist.
Business filters, unlike consumer filters that might prioritize engagement, focus on keeping mail useful for the business. They often employ third-party spam services that aggregate user reports. If users within an organization report your unsolicited emails as spam, your domain could be blocked by that specific organization. Over time, these individual blocks can contribute to broader business filters flagging your domain, further crippling your deliverability.
Scraped lists versus consent-based lists
Short-term perspective
Acquisition: Quick, but often unreliable sourcing leading to poor data quality.
Consent: Assumed and not explicit, which increases legal vulnerability.
Deliverability: Typically low inbox rates, with many emails going to spam folders.
Reputation: High risk of damaging your domain and IP reputation.
Legal: Significant exposure to fines and potential lawsuits.
Long-term perspective
Acquisition: Slower but yields higher quality, engaged subscribers.
Consent: Explicitly given, ensuring compliance and positive reception.
Deliverability: High inbox placement due to good sender reputation.
Reputation: Positive and protected, leading to long-term trust.
Legal: Minimal legal exposure, ensuring business continuity.
Hidden costs and ethical considerations
The seemingly free acquisition of email addresses through scraping comes with substantial hidden costs. These include the cost of managing a poor sender reputation, the time and effort required for blocklist removal (or blacklist removal), potential legal fees and fines, and the overall reduced effectiveness of your email marketing efforts. The potential for data breaches and privacy violations also exists if scraped data is not handled securely, exposing your organization to further risks.
There's also a significant ethical dimension. Sending unsolicited commercial emails can be perceived as intrusive and annoying. It erodes trust and can negatively impact public perception of your brand. Even if a legal loophole seems to exist in certain niche situations, the ethical implications and potential for negative public relations should be carefully considered. People expect a level of privacy, even with publicly shared contact information. A joint statement on data scraping and the protection of privacy by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada discusses these concerns.
Ultimately, building an email list based on consent and legitimate interest is the foundation of effective and sustainable email marketing. It fosters a positive relationship with your audience, leads to higher engagement, and protects your sender reputation, ensuring your messages reliably reach the inbox.
Always obtain explicit consent before adding email addresses to your mailing list.
Monitor feedback loops from ISPs and ESPs to understand user reactions to your emails.
Implement regular list hygiene practices to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers.
Common pitfalls
Assuming publicly available email addresses automatically grant consent for marketing.
Ignoring generic addresses like 'info@' or 'admin@' in scraped lists.
Underestimating the impact of even a few spam complaints on overall deliverability.
Expert tips
Focus on developing an engaged audience that genuinely wants to receive your emails.
Prioritize building your list organically through transparent opt-in methods.
Invest in tools and processes that help maintain list health and monitor deliverability.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that public contact addresses on websites are there for potential customers to contact them, not for unsolicited advertising messages.
2021-09-30 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that sending emails to scraped lists can lead to being blocked by recipient companies and caught by broader business filters for spamming.
2021-09-30 - Email Geeks
Building a healthy email ecosystem
In conclusion, while the idea of quickly expanding your email list by scraping addresses from public websites may seem efficient, the risks far outweigh any perceived benefits. From severe damage to your sender reputation and pervasive deliverability issues to significant legal and financial penalties, the potential repercussions are extensive. Sustainable email marketing relies on building a permission-based list. This approach not only ensures compliance with anti-spam laws but also cultivates a trusting relationship with your subscribers, leading to better engagement and long-term success. Prioritizing consent and ethical data acquisition is not just a best practice, it's a necessity for maintaining a robust and effective email program.
Google or 
Microsoft) assess your sender reputation. A poor reputation (also called a low domain reputation) means your legitimate emails, even those to opted-in subscribers, will suffer from poor inbox placement. This can severely hinder your ability to communicate with your actual audience.
