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UPDATE: Spammy emails in MailChimp

Wordpress · January 13, 2015

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Just wanted to follow up with my recent post where I noticed I was getting a bunch of spammy emails subscribing to my newsletter.   I reached out for professional help but here’s how I ended up fixing it myself.

NokiaMail.comTo recap, most of the emails were coming from @nokiamail.com – a well known site for allowing spammers to create thousands of bogus email accounts.

That wouldn’t be much of a story but I use Double Opt In.  That means when you sign up for my newsletter you’ll need to check your email for a special link (and click that) before it becomes a real subscription.  It’s an extra step which might lower my subscription rate but it keeps my list clean and on target.

Like a Captcha, Double Opt In is supposed to make it harder for spammers and bots to do their evil work – yet I was getting hit hard with new subscribers that had opted in – mostly from @nokiamail.com.

I was baffled, so I asked MailChimp why they might want to do this…

Hey @mailchimp why would a spammer double opt in? I'm Baffled. See http://t.co/VvAekdgnxo for the details

— Mike Mueller ???? (@MikeMueller) December 29, 2014

They answered back pretty fast, asking me to send an email to customer support, which I did.

Their answer was less than satisfactory.

Thanks for checking back in with us – I can definitely understand how annoying it can be to have spammy signups.

While it is unclear what a spammer may want from being in a list, our developers currently have a few things in the works to help further combat those signups via MailChimp’s own hosted form. While we cannot speak for Gravity forms, in the meantime, using a Wufoo form and adding a CAPTCHA can help; Wufoo does provide this field as a form option and directly integrates with our system. Here’s a quick link to Wufoo’s information on this feature: http://wufoo.com/2009/07/02/smart-captcha/

First of all, I use Gravity Forms for my newsletter sign ups. It’s a premium form that pretty much everyone says is #1.  Wufoo might be good, but it’s web based and I’m not comfortable having all my form data stored on a server out there I have no control over. We’re talking about your email address.  I’d rather keep that stuff as safe as I possibly can – I respect your privacy.

Secondly, I can add Captcha to Gravity Forms.  Really easilly. But, I shouldn’t have to with Double Opt In – right?  Studies also show the less you ask in a form the more apt people are going to be to click the submit button.

Which brings me to my solution.  Totally dissatisfied with MailChimps answer I looked to solve the issue on my own.  Instead of explaining what I did, I’ll just have to show you…

 

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Mike Mueller
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Mike Mueller
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A former professional hand model, Mike builds Custom WordPress Websites that rock!


He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
Mike Mueller
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