Summary
Strange signups to newsletters are a multifaceted issue stemming from automated bots, malicious actors, and various online activities. Bots are deployed for email harvesting, subscription process testing, IP warmup, and inflating perceived legitimacy. Malicious actors may aim to degrade engagement stats, damage sender reputation, or spread misinformation. These signups often exhibit unusual patterns in usernames, IPs, and signup behavior. Mitigation strategies include implementing CAPTCHAs, utilizing double opt-in, leveraging bot management solutions, monitoring honeypots, and employing blocklists.
Key findings
- Bot Activities: Bots are used for email harvesting, subscription testing, IP warmup, and legitimacy inflation.
- Malicious Intent: Signups may be driven by competitors attempting to damage sender reputation or spread misinformation.
- Unusual Patterns: Strange signups often display patterns in usernames, IPs, or signup behavior indicative of automation.
- Honeypot Effectiveness: Honeypots can catch bots but require careful monitoring to remain effective.
- Engagement Degradation: Some signups aim to degrade engagement metrics.
Key considerations
- Implement CAPTCHAs: Employ CAPTCHAs on signup forms to reduce automated signups.
- Use Double Opt-in: Ensure only legitimate users are added to the list through double opt-in.
- Bot Management: Utilize bot management solutions to detect and mitigate bot traffic effectively.
- Monitor Honeypots: Regularly monitor honeypot email addresses for suspicious activity.
- Leverage Blocklists: Employ blocklists to prevent signups from known spammers and bots.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
Strange signups to newsletters often result from automated bots or malicious actors. Bots may be used to inflate the perceived legitimacy of email addresses, gather data for aggregation services, or participate in IP warmup activities. Competitors or disgruntled individuals might use fake signups to sabotage sender reputation by marking emails as spam or by email list bombing. Address harvesting bots are also a common source, scraping email addresses from websites to add to spam lists. Some actors may create fake accounts to spread misinformation or damage reputations. These signups can be identified through unusual usernames, repetitive patterns, or suspicious data. Solutions to mitigate the problem include implementing CAPTCHAs, using double opt-in, and employing blocklists.
Key opinions
- Bot Activity: Automated bots are a primary source of strange signups, performing tasks such as form filling, address harvesting, and IP warmup.
- Malicious Intent: Competitors or disgruntled users may use fake signups to damage sender reputation or spread misinformation.
- Legitimacy Inflation: Fake signups can be used to give the illusion of legitimacy to email addresses, making them appear more genuine.
- Data Aggregation: Signups may be related to services that aggregate data from newsletters or other sources.
- Identification Methods: Unusual usernames, repetitive patterns, and gibberish text are indicators of bot activity.
Key considerations
- Implement CAPTCHAs: Use CAPTCHAs on signup forms to reduce automated signups.
- Use Double Opt-in: Employ double opt-in to ensure only legitimate users are added to the list.
- Employ Blocklists: Utilize blocklists to prevent known spammers and bots from signing up.
- Monitor Signup Data: Regularly monitor signup data for suspicious patterns or unusual activity.
- Honeypot Monitoring: Monitor honeypot email addresses for bot activity.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Neil Patel Blog explains that bot signups can occur due to bots automatically filling out forms, and they can be identified by looking for patterns in the signup data like similar usernames or IPs.
2 Jul 2024 - Neil Patel Blog
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that the fake signups could be used to give legitimacy to an account, making it harder to detect nefarious activity.
5 Oct 2022 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Strange signups to newsletters can be attributed to various sources, including automated bots harvesting email addresses, delivery monitoring tools checking subscription processes, and malicious actors attempting to degrade engagement stats. Honeypots can be used to catch bots, but they are not foolproof. Implementing CAPTCHAs can help reduce automated signups.
Key opinions
- Delivery Monitoring: Unusual signups may originate from tools testing subscription processes.
- Engagement Degradation: Malicious actors may attempt to degrade engagement stats through fake signups.
- Address Harvesting: Automated bots are a primary source of strange signups by harvesting email addresses.
- Honeypot Limitations: Honeypots can be effective but aren't always foolproof.
Key considerations
- Implement CAPTCHAs: Use technical barriers like CAPTCHAs to reduce automated signups.
- Monitor Honeypots: Closely monitor honeypot email addresses for unusual activity.
Expert view
Expert from SpamResource shares that automated email address harvesting bots are the main reason people are getting strange signups, and advises using technical barriers like CAPTCHAs to reduce automated signups.
6 Feb 2022 - SpamResource
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that they have experienced similar activity with Gmail accounts and proxy IPs and that they believe the end goal may be to degrade engagement stats.
24 Sep 2024 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Strange signups to newsletters frequently result from automated bots involved in malicious activities or email harvesting. Solutions such as bot management systems, reCAPTCHA, and databases of known spammers can help identify and prevent these fake signups.
Key findings
- Bot Activity: Bots are a primary driver of strange signups, often involved in malicious activities.
- Email Harvesting: Spammers use bots to harvest email addresses from websites, which can lead to unwanted newsletter signups.
- Prevention Methods: Bot management solutions, reCAPTCHA, and spammer databases can effectively prevent fake signups.
Key considerations
- Bot Management: Implement bot management solutions to detect and mitigate bot traffic.
- Use reCAPTCHA: Utilize reCAPTCHA to prevent automated software from engaging in abusive activities.
- Spammer Database: Leverage databases of known spammers to block suspicious signups.
Technical article
Documentation from Stop Forum Spam explains that their service maintains a database of known spammers and bots, which can be used to identify and block suspicious signups on your website.
12 Nov 2022 - Stop Forum Spam
Technical article
Documentation from Google explains that reCAPTCHA helps prevent automated software from engaging in abusive activities on your website, including fake signups, by using advanced risk analysis techniques.
8 Dec 2021 - Google
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How can I prevent bot signups on my email newsletter form?
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