A dodgy 2000s’ UK spam list is still doing the rounds in 2022, pretending to be legit


 
During February, I received spam from Novuna in the UK, the finance company that’s a subsidiary of Mitsubishi. It wasn’t personally addressed, it was just a general message. I complained via their complaints’ email, only to have the message bounce back as it wasn’t working. However, they did respond on Twitter, unlike less caring companies such as Afterpay, followed up via my company feedback form by their senior marketing manager, Rob Walton.

Rob asked me to send them the spam for their investigation, and, after about seven attempts, they received it (ironically, their own server blocked the message on the grounds of it being spam). I confirmed that although I do have British nationality, I had never resided in the UK or had had any contact with Novuna.

He was as good as his word, and after a few days, came back to me to say Experian, a credit reference agency, had supplied my address to them. He also included a web address so I could get make a ‘subject access request’ from the provider, made sure I was off their email lists, and apologized.

From there, ESB Connect Ltd. also took things seriously. The request came back, and ESB’s CEO, Suz Chaplin, took the time to write a personal email. It turns out that ESB had acquired the details from another company, Datatonomy, who falsely claimed that I had signed up via two websites: Idealo and Great British Offers.

Here’s the real kicker: it claimed that my name was ‘Mrs Jayne Moore’ of Liverpool.

Rewind back over 15 years (maybe closer to 20!) and a dodgy spam list doing the rounds in the 2000s saw a lot of messages sent to my email calling me ‘Mrs Jayne Moore’. I even have a filter for it in Eudora that’s been there since the ’00s.

Indeed, 10 days prior to Suz getting back to me, I said to Rob: ‘I do remember one UK-based spam list from the 2000s that had my email address listed against the name “Mrs Jayne Moore” and those still come. It will be interesting to discover if this is the same source.’

Imagine my surprise to find that a common and badly compiled spam list (obviously my details were erroneously married up with Mrs Moore’s name, address and date of birth) is still being sold by dodgy parties in the UK, making false claims about sign-ups!

I wrote to Suz: ‘It seems you may have unwittingly and innocently purchased a common spammers’ list where such details were mixed up (after all, these people have no qualms) or that you have been duped about the veracity of the opt-ins detailed in your document.’ And cheekily, I suggested she should get her money back from Datatonomy.

Suz says she will look into this further as her company prides itself on data integrity. I thanked her, and true to both her and Rob’s promises, I haven’t received anything like the Novuna spam since. Nor have I seen that many purporting to be from British companies.

I don’t know if Datatonomy bought its list from somewhere else, though as I said to Suz, they haven’t had great reviews, and it’s suggested online that they purchase from questionable parties. But after a decade and a half, thanks to Rob and Suz, we might have stopped some of the ‘Mrs Jayne Moore’ spams.


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