In a similar case of opt-in fraud, a website called Spamza.com has recently been shut down by its host GoDaddy for allowing visitors to sign up virtually any email address to what the site claimed was “hundreds of newsletters”. The site allowed individuals to anonymously subject their enemies’ email addresses to heinous amounts of fraudulently opted-in mail.

Signing up an email address at Spamza caused it to be resold from one illegal operation to another, posing a potential nightmare for single opt-in email marketing campaigns and compliant marketers unknowingly obtaining data containing opt-in fraud. This is why LashBack encourages not only compliance with CAN-SPAM laws but also best practices such as confirmed opt-in.

Anyone in the business of purchasing leads is well aware why opt-in fraud creates such a big problem. The leads gathered from fraudulent sign-ups are not legitimate single opt-in or confirmed opt-in email addresses. When false sign-ups occur, however, they pose a much greater threat in a single opt-in scenario than in a confirmed opt-in one. Due to the nature of the single opt-in, addresses could easily be signed up without proper confirmation from the address owner.

To be continued…

This is Part Two of a three part post on opt-in fraud and bad data. Click here to read Part One.

To read more about Spamza, check out blogs by Justin Premick, Word to the Wise, and Dancho Danchev.