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View Full Version : Why do spam companies buy email lists?


Vostrocity
August 13th, 2009, 05:12 AM
I was reading this CNet article (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10304836-93.html) about a music-service (which I happened to have used at one point :()going bankrupt and selling the emails of former users to spammers. The cost of the 2.5 million addresses was $8500.

And so I've always wondered, why do spammers even need to buy mailing lists from 3rd parties? An average computer nowadays can brute-force a (not so good) password in a short amount of time. How come they don't just get a few servers and run them full time to generate strings for use as email addresses. Considering that most emails are less than say 20 characters, limited to alphanumerals without case differentiation, and do use dictionary words, I would guess they could come up with plenty in no time. And even if only an eighth of them were active email addresses, that's still plenty.
:guitar:
starcannon
August 13th, 2009, 05:15 AM
The better question is why companies are allowed to sell private client data.
Why a spammer would buy the data is obvious.
Vostrocity
August 13th, 2009, 05:23 AM
The better question is why companies are allowed to sell private client data.
Why a spammer would buy the data is obvious.

It's not obvious to me so explain! :eek:
Bigtime_Scrub
August 13th, 2009, 05:26 AM
It's not obvious to me so explain! :eek:

You would want to buy those emails because they are known to be:

1. Used by someone real
2. It is a strong lead
3. Known to have been checked by someone real in the past.


Which is better then a scatter bomb approach. They are more bang for your buck.
Vostrocity
August 13th, 2009, 05:35 AM
You would want to buy those emails because they are known to be:

1. Used by someone real
2. It is a strong lead
3. Known to have been checked by someone real in the past.


Which is better then a scatter bomb approach. They are more bang for your buck.

But wouldn't you rather spend $2000 on a server and some code that can generate emails infinitely than the same money on a couple thousand emails? AFAIK spam isn't usually targeted so you could just send it to any random person and not care what kind of person or how active the email is.