How do spammers get my email address?

Spammers acquire email addresses through various methods, including web scraping public websites, purchasing lists from data breaches, using dictionary attacks to guess common address formats, and sometimes through malicious software. Learn more about how your email address ends up on a blacklist .

What is email spoofing and how do spammers use it?

Email spoofing is when a spammer forges the sender's address to make an email appear to come from a legitimate source, such as your company or a well-known brand. This tactic aims to deceive recipients and bypass initial spam filters. Implementing DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is crucial to combat this.

Can spammers copy content from my legitimate marketing emails?

Yes, spammers often copy the HTML and text content from legitimate marketing emails or newsletters. They might subscribe to your lists or scrape public archives, then modify links and sender information for their own malicious purposes. This is a form of content cloning that can impact your sender reputation .

How do I identify if an email header is forged?

Identifying forged headers requires careful inspection. While spammers can add fake 'Received' lines, the last 'Received' header and the 'Return-Path' often provide clues to the true origin. Discrepancies between the 'From' address and authentication results (like SPF or DKIM) also indicate spoofing.

What is a blocklist (or blacklist) and how does it relate to spam?

A blocklist, also known as a blacklist, is a database of IP addresses or domains identified as sources of spam. If a spammer's IP or domain is on a blocklist, their emails are likely to be rejected or sent to recipients' spam folders. Understanding how email blocklists work is key to email deliverability.

How are spammers getting content for their spam emails? - Compliance - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

The persistent flow of unsolicited emails, commonly known as spam, is a daily reality for most internet users. While we often focus on blocking these unwanted messages, a fundamental question arises: how do spammers get the actual content for their emails? It's not always just random text, but often content that mimics legitimate communications, making it harder to detect and avoid.

The methods range from simple copying to highly sophisticated technical maneuvers. Understanding these techniques is crucial for defending against spam and safeguarding your email deliverability. Spammers are constantly adapting their strategies, making it a continuous battle to stay ahead.

This insight into their content acquisition process can help email marketers and security professionals better protect their brands and recipients from malicious or unwanted communications. It’s a complex landscape where knowledge is truly power.

Harvesting email addresses

Before spammers can send content, they need email addresses. This initial step, often referred to as email harvesting, employs various tactics to compile vast recipient lists. These lists are the bedrock of any large-scale spam operation, whether they're sending promotional junk or sophisticated phishing attempts.

One common method involves automated programs, or spambots, that scour the internet for email addresses. They crawl websites, forums, chat rooms, and even social media profiles, extracting any publicly displayed email addresses. This automated scraping is highly efficient, allowing spammers to quickly build massive databases.

Another significant source is data breaches. When online services or companies suffer security incidents, user databases, including email addresses, are often stolen and sold on dark web marketplaces. Spammers purchase these lists, gaining access to millions of legitimate email addresses. They also use dictionary attacks to guess common email formats, as discussed in the Spiceworks community. If you've ever wondered why do spambots submit real emails to signup forms, it's often part of this harvesting process, validating addresses and identifying active targets.

Method	Description	Impact
Web scraping	Automated bots collect addresses from publicly accessible websites, forums, and social media.	High volume of generic spam.
Data breaches	Stolen customer databases sold on dark web markets, containing email addresses and other personal data.	Leads to targeted spam and phishing campaigns.
Purchased lists	Illegitimate marketers or spammers buy email lists, often without proper consent.	Increases spam volume, damages sender reputation.
Dictionary attacks	Spammers guess common email address patterns for specific domains.	Results in emails sent to non-existent addresses.

Acquiring and generating content

Once spammers have a list of targets, the next step is to generate the email content. This is where their creativity, or lack thereof, comes into play. Often, the content itself is not original but rather repurposed or stolen from legitimate sources, aiming to deceive recipients into believing the email is authentic.

A common method is simply copying legitimate marketing emails or newsletters. Spammers subscribe to various mailing lists or crawl publicly accessible web archives of email campaigns. They then take the entire HTML structure and text, modifying only key elements like links and sender information to redirect to their malicious sites or schemes. This technique allows them to bypass basic spam filters that look for entirely new or poorly constructed content.

Beyond direct copying, spammers also use automated content generation tools. These tools can combine random phrases, keywords, and templates to create unique, albeit nonsensical, messages that aim to evade detection. More advanced spammers employ social engineering by researching their targets to craft highly personalized and convincing phishing emails, as detailed in an article about what is email spam. This blend of automation and social engineering makes their content increasingly difficult to distinguish from genuine communication, making it harder to protect your sender reputation.

Protecting your email content

While it's difficult to completely prevent spammers from copying your publicly available email content, there are steps you can take to minimize their impact and protect your brand's integrity. Vigilance and robust security measures are key.

Monitor for misuse: Regularly search for instances of your email content being used in suspicious campaigns. Tools for blocklist monitoring and DMARC reporting can help identify unauthorized use of your domain.
Implement strong authentication: Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. These protocols prevent spammers from easily spoofing your domain and sending emails that appear to be from you.
Educate your recipients: Teach your audience how to recognize phishing attempts and report suspicious emails, even if they appear to be from your brand.

The technical side of content delivery

Beyond getting email addresses and content, spammers rely on various technical tricks to deliver their messages and evade detection. A primary method is email spoofing, where they forge the sender's address to make an email appear to come from a legitimate source, often a well-known brand or even the recipient's own domain. This deceptive practice is designed to bypass initial trust filters and trick recipients into opening the message.

Spammers frequently use compromised accounts, insecure servers, or botnets to send large volumes of mail. Botnets, networks of hijacked computers, allow spammers to distribute their messages across many IP addresses, making it harder for email service providers to trace and block their activity. They also exploit misconfigured mail servers or open relays to send emails without proper authentication, further obscuring the true origin.

Another tactic involves manipulating email headers. While the visible 'From' address might be spoofed, the underlying technical headers often reveal the true, illegitimate sending source. However, spammers can also forge these 'Received' headers to create a misleading trail, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of a spam message. Analyzing these intricate headers is often the first step in diagnosing a spam issue, but it requires expertise to understand which parts are authentic and which are fabricated.

Example of a deceptive email header (simplified)

From: AHS <JMJIyFZ-1f3M69Q3xSY3-noReply@iuowankzfc.thaiyogamiami.com>
To: <Dustin@aol.com>
Subject: AmericanHomeShieldToday,
CC: <DustinYs@aol.com>
Return-Path: <Account_Alert_1f3M69Q3xSY3@reset-might.etrafficplus.com>
Received: from reset-might.etrafficplus.com (reset-might.etrafficplus.com. [74.208.93.51])

Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are designed to counter these spoofing tactics. When these are properly implemented, recipient mail servers can verify that an email truly originated from the domain it claims to be from, leading to better protection against email-based threats and preventing your legitimate emails from landing on a blacklist (or blocklist). If you're encountering issues like 'DMARC verification failed' errors, it indicates a problem with your email authentication setup.

Staying ahead of spam tactics

The world of email security is a constant cat-and-mouse game, with spammers continually evolving their methods to bypass defenses. From sophisticated email harvesting techniques to the cloning of legitimate email content and the forging of technical headers, their approach is multi-faceted and ever-changing.

For businesses and individuals, this means that vigilance and proactive measures are essential. Simply relying on basic spam filters is often not enough. Implementing robust email authentication, regularly monitoring your domain's reputation, and educating your team on phishing awareness are critical steps in protecting your brand and your inboxes.

By understanding the intricate ways spammers acquire both their targets and their content, we can better anticipate their moves and deploy more effective countermeasures. Continuous learning and adaptation are vital to maintaining strong email deliverability and ensuring your messages reach their intended recipients securely.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Always inspect email headers thoroughly to identify the true sender and detect any signs of spoofing or malicious routing.

Educate your team and customers about common spam and phishing tactics, emphasizing the importance of verifying sender legitimacy before interacting with content.

Implement strong email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to prevent unauthorized use of your domain and protect your sender reputation.

Utilize DMARC reporting to gain visibility into email traffic claiming to be from your domain, helping to identify and address spoofing attempts.

Report spam and phishing emails to your email provider to help improve their detection algorithms and protect others.

Common pitfalls

Assuming that an email is legitimate just because the 'From' address appears to be from a known entity or your own company.

Ignoring unusual 'To' or 'CC' fields in emails, as spammers often use these to hide mass mailings or target specific accounts.

Clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails, which can lead to malware infections or credential theft.

Neglecting to monitor your domain's email activity, making it difficult to detect when your brand is being used in spam campaigns.

Relying solely on basic spam filters without implementing advanced email authentication or monitoring solutions.

Expert tips

Pay close attention to the 'Received' headers, as the last one is typically the most reliable indicator of the message's true origin.

Be aware that spammers may copy and paste content and even header information from legitimate ESP emails to make their messages appear authentic.

Recognize that unusual 'To' or 'CC' fields often indicate the use of BCC functionality for mass spam campaigns, with a random address in the visible 'To' field.

Understand that spammers might use alphabetically sorted lists, placing the first address in the visible 'To' field while sending to many others via BCC.

Be vigilant about 'snowshoe spam,' where spammers distribute their volume across many different IPs and domains to avoid blocklists.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says they have been receiving mail to an unexpected AOL address, and sometimes even a CC address, which is strange. It became even weirder when it included mail from their current company.

December 5, 2021 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks says that there is likely something in the email headers that would provide clues, as it is extremely uncommon for mail to be routed incorrectly.

December 5, 2021 - Email Geeks