Getting "spam" from a local company

Ctrl Alt Del

Hi,

I have an email address created for supplier 1 in format of "supplier1@mydomain.ie"
Today,got an email from a third party company,with some special offers to buy but they sent it to my "supplier1" account and not to my general business account,such as "myname@mydomain.ie" ,as in business card.

Called them and explained that my solicitor will send over a letter.
Also,i called my supplier and asked how my unique email address end it up on their emailing list !

I've asked in the IT sections as well,trying to gather as much information as possible.
From your experience,what i should do next !?


Thanks in advance...

Bandara

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Hi,

I have an email address created for supplier 1 in format of "supplier1@mydomain.ie"
Today,got an email from a third party company,with some special offers to buy but they sent it to my "supplier1" account and not to my general business account,such as "myname@mydomain.ie" ,as in business card.

Called them and explained that my solicitor will send over a letter.
Also,i called my supplier and asked how my unique email address end it up on their emailing list !

I've asked in the IT sections as well,trying to gather as much information as possible.
From your experience,what i should do next !?


Thanks in advance...

At risk of sounding smart you should chill out and do nothing other than direct them to spam box if they bother you that much

Staff member from supplier1 has obviously gone and started working for supplier2 and is trying to win business off you.

Imo your overreacting massively. Solicitors letter for a special offers email ??

Mick Murdock

Is this a joke?

Solicitors letter. :rolleyes:

dbran

Hi

I know spam can be very annoying sometimes but it is just a distraction from the day to day requirement of getting work done and making a living. Just set up proper spam filters and move on.

Honestly, it sounds like you have nothing to do. You have set up a different email address for each supplier and when you get an email that you are not expecting you ring everyone threatening legal action?? Then you charge over to your IT department and waste all of their time with this spurious exercise.

Seriously, find something to do!!!

dbran

Peterdalkey

report them to the Data Protection Commission

Atomico

What a colossal over-reaction.

bucks

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

From your experience,what i should do next !?

Block their email address and move on with your life.

Solicitors letter for one email sent to you? Bloody ridiculous!

Michael_Dare

Legislation covering spam only applies to personal email accounts. It is not illegal to send unsolicited business to business emails, even though it is spam.

By your own admission, your "supplier1" email address is most definitely a business email, which means the company sending you the spam have not broken any laws.

thecommander

Michael_Dare wrote: »

Legislation covering spam only applies to personal email accounts. It is not illegal to send unsolicited business to business emails, even though it is spam.

Really? Never knew that.

Peterdalkey

there are plenty of spam email blocker services out there that run blacklists.. once your email or domain are listed, even erroneously, it is extremely difficult to get unblocked.

Peterdalkey

B2B marketing emails ARE covered by Data Protection Act and breach can lead to legal sanctions. see http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=905

unnameduser

It does sound like someone jumped ship and took their CRM sales list with them.

A lot of people are totally unaware of email or spam etiquette.

This clearly bothers you. I'd advise to start with an email enquiring as to the origin of their source of your email address.

Ctrl Alt Del

Hi, thanks.

I never done business with the third party company !
I've got an email from the supplier1:
"they got hold of our database and i've asked them to remove your email from their listing list".

Since then,I've got another email from an UK based company,never dealt with before, using the same email supplier1 account !

I'm shocked,angry and scared...reported "loss" of my business card .

Ctrl Alt Del

Atomico wrote: »

What a colossal over-reaction.

bucks wrote: »

Block their email address and move on with your life.

Solicitors letter for one email sent to you? Bloody ridiculous!

What if...someone got in to their system,without them knowing and steal ...with your credit card and personal information !? Would you guys say the same thing !??? Yes,of course...pathetic reply !

jhegarty

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Hi, thanks.

I never done business with the third party company !
I've got an email from the supplier1:
"they got hold of our database and i've asked them to remove your email from their listing list".

Since then,I've got another email from an UK based company,never dealt with before, using the same email supplier1 account !

I'm shocked,angry and scared...reported "loss" of my business card .

Time to call the Data Protection Commission.

Atomico

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

What if...someone got in to their system,without them knowing and steal ...with your credit card and personal information !? Would you guys say the same thing !??? Yes,of course...pathetic reply !

Em, we probably would say something different because that would be a different situation to the one you outlined in your original post.

pedroeibar1

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

I'm shocked,angry and scared...reported "loss" of my business card .

I'd hate to see what would happen to you if you had a business problem instead of a spam email. Is business so bad that you have all this time to get steamed up over a nonsense?

jjpep

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

What if...someone got in to their system,without them knowing and steal ...with your credit card and personal information !? Would you guys say the same thing !??? Yes,of course...pathetic reply !

Not even in the same ballpark what your comparing there. Not wanting to be a dick here, but how tech savvy are you? Do you understand (at least in a general way) how different these two things are and how much more difficult it is to get your credit card etc than your email. A bit of paranoia isn't actually a bad thing to have regards online security but you'd want to make sure your not over reacting to things that don't really matter so much.

When you rang them did you ask them how they got your email? What did they say? Your system of having a different email address per supplier, what is it your trying to achieve with that? Do you see it as a security measure or is for admin maybe? It may be that are better ways to achieve what it is your trying to do.

bucks

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

What if...someone got in to their system,without them knowing and steal ...with your credit card and personal information !? Would you guys say the same thing !??? Yes,of course...pathetic reply !

What if... a company left junk mail in my letterbox... (Bold, bold company)

What if... a company opened up my front door, walked into my office, left junk mail on the table and took my wallet with them when leaving... (Theft, not to mention stupid)

Completely different scenario to your original post. :rolleyes:

Atomico

I suspect the OP has zero tech knowledge and is running around outraged about something that someone else wouldn't spend a second thinking about (re the original 'issue', not the latest one).

Peterdalkey

this issue has nothing to do with technical knowledge or savvy!! if anyone had bothered to look at the other posts by the OP, you would see he is extremely IT system competent.
This case of spam is unusual as the bespoke unique email address can be traced, unlike most spam emails. His reaction might be a bit too much but it does raise issues for supplier1 and perhaps he should have focused on sorting it with them.
Much of the comment on here has been less than useful and strayed way off the original post. He is perfectly entitled to use his email addresses in any way that suits him and his own systems without being subject to ridicule from people who know nothing of his operation.

Axwell

OP the spam issue is a minor part in the whole thing - the real issue where is that your suppliers database was supposedly accessed from a third party. Your main issue is with find out out how this happened, what other information was accessed and what precautions they are taking to make sure it doesn't happen again. Also why did they not inform all their clients of this breach - why did it only come to light when you emailed?

I would be contacting the supplier straight away and getting as much information out of them as possible. If they are telling the truth then their database is now with a third party who can distribute that to other companies, hence the other spam emails from other companies. That is assuming they didn't sell the database to the third party company themselves. Either way I would be sending a letter to the Data Protection Commission outlining what happened.

pedroeibar1

Peterdalkey wrote: »

this issue has nothing to do with technical knowledge or savvy!! if anyone had bothered to look at the other posts by the OP, you would see he is extremely IT system competent.
This case of spam is unusual as the bespoke unique email address can be traced, unlike most spam emails. His reaction might be a bit too much but it does raise issues for supplier1 and perhaps he should have focused on sorting it with them.
Much of the comment on here has been less than useful and strayed way off the original post. He is perfectly entitled to use his email addresses in any way that suits him and his own systems without being subject to ridicule from people who know nothing of his operation.

I disagree. The OP has totally over-reacted and needs to chill. S/he is very clear, and it is easy to infer that s/he must have unique email addresses for all suppliers. Why? What does it achieve? How much time does that take? Where is the cost benefit? Why bother to do that with suppliers, what knowledge can it impart? All for a body of suppliers who can and do change regularly?

OP’s email address has been used by a third party (in the same industry) and s/he has received a sales offer that s/he describes as a piece of spam. Big deal. How can s/he prove that the email addy was divulged by that particular supplier? Even if that can be proved, what info can the supplier have in its database? Most unlikely to be a credit card number, just a company name and address (email & actual), possibly total sales and balance outstanding on the account. As pointed out earlier the email addy was probably taken by a departing staff member. It is done all the time.

If the OP wanted to progress this the last thing s/he needs to have done first is send a solicitors letter, which will cost north of a hundred euro on something like this. What is the solicitor going to claim? What is the next step and where does that lead? By mentioning solicitors to the supplier, the latter will put up the barricades and ignore it. So the OP has to go to the next step, which is another letter from the solicitors, which probably would have to be based on counsel’s opinion, the area not being commonplace in a general practice. More money. Then proceedings have to issue – on what grounds? Even if it goes to court (and that would be against all legal advice) the supplier will say it did not knowingly divulge any info., that it would appear that a departing staff member, identity unknown had access to some email addresses and against all written rules took them with him. Is OP likely to win? Even if it got that far, probably not.

In any industry the gossip on the OP would circulate rapidly and probably has. Would I like to do business with somebody like that? Would you? S/he should have simply said to the supplier – ‘Look, I’ve received an email from a 3rd party at an addy known only to you. I’m concerned that your security has been breached, I need to know what details you have on me in your database and we need to discuss this.' If one of your customers said that to you would you comply? I would, if I wanted his business.
The rest is just BS.

Atomico

Peterdalkey wrote: »

this issue has nothing to do with technical knowledge or savvy!! if anyone had bothered to look at the other posts by the OP, you would see he is extremely IT system competent.
This case of spam is unusual as the bespoke unique email address can be traced, unlike most spam emails. His reaction might be a bit too much but it does raise issues for supplier1 and perhaps he should have focused on sorting it with them.
Much of the comment on here has been less than useful and strayed way off the original post. He is perfectly entitled to use his email addresses in any way that suits him and his own systems without being subject to ridicule from people who know nothing of his operation.

'Tech savvy' as in general online savvy really. Plus I would disagree, if you talk about sending a solicitors letter (really hope money wasn't actually spent there) in response to a unsolicited email on a public forum, then you can't expect much more. Plus perhaps said ridicule has helped prevent him from blowing his money on a solicitor!

Peterdalkey

My two suggestions were to seek advice/action from the Data Protection Commissioner and to take it up with the original supplier. I never supported the notion of sending a solicitors letter and did acknowledge that the OPs reaction may have been a bit too much.
Clearly the OP has his own reasons for bespoke email addresses and that he has is quite irrelevant to the issue at hand. Obviously it was posted to show how he could pinpoint the exact source of that unique email address.
The rest is just hyperbole!

pedroeibar1

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

The rest is just BS.

Peterdalkey wrote: »

The rest is just hyperbole!

Seems we are more or less on the same page then (‘cept you are more polite than I).:D

Peterdalkey

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

I disagree. The OP has totally over-reacted and needs to chill. S/he is very clear, and it is easy to infer that s/he must have unique email addresses for all suppliers. Why? What does it achieve? How much time does that take? Where is the cost benefit? Why bother to do that with suppliers, what knowledge can it impart? All for a body of suppliers who can and do change regularly?

OP’s email address has been used by a third party (in the same industry) and s/he has received a sales offer that s/he describes as a piece of spam. Big deal. How can s/he prove that the email addy was divulged by that particular supplier? Even if that can be proved, what info can the supplier have in its database? Most unlikely to be a credit card number, just a company name and address (email & actual), possibly total sales and balance outstanding on the account. As pointed out earlier the email addy was probably taken by a departing staff member. It is done all the time.

If the OP wanted to progress this the last thing s/he needs to have done first is send a solicitors letter, which will cost north of a hundred euro on something like this. What is the solicitor going to claim? What is the next step and where does that lead? By mentioning solicitors to the supplier, the latter will put up the barricades and ignore it. So the OP has to go to the next step, which is another letter from the solicitors, which probably would have to be based on counsel’s opinion, the area not being commonplace in a general practice. More money. Then proceedings have to issue – on what grounds? Even if it goes to court (and that would be against all legal advice) the supplier will say it did not knowingly divulge any info., that it would appear that a departing staff member, identity unknown had access to some email addresses and against all written rules took them with him. Is OP likely to win? Even if it got that far, probably not.

In any industry the gossip on the OP would circulate rapidly and probably has. Would I like to do business with somebody like that? Would you? S/he should have simply said to the supplier – ‘Look, I’ve received an email from a 3rd party at an addy known only to you. I’m concerned that your security has been breached, I need to know what details you have on me in your database and we need to discuss this.' If one of your customers said that to you would you comply? I would, if I wanted his business.
The rest is just BS.

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Seems we are more or less on the same page then (‘cept you are more polite than I).:D

Silly me!

Nuttzz

In the past I've received emails from suppliers with every recipient's email in the to field, you could see the email address for hundreds of companies, and if I wanted I could have copied them down, it could be something as simple as that, no database compromise involved

Peterdalkey

Nuttzz wrote: »

In the past I've received emails from suppliers with every recipient's email in the to field, you could see the email address for hundreds of companies, and if I wanted I could have copied them down, it could be something as simple as that, no database compromise involved

Very interesting when that happens!1 I once got all my competitors pricing when I was erroneously bcc'd!!

Bart Mars

Could you contact the Gardai? I think they have some cyber unit that could help

Peterdalkey

Bart Mars wrote: »

Could you contact the Gardai? I think they have some cyber unit that could help

where is the criminal offense?