Your selling of my email address
- Thread starter BadBack
- Start date
Solution
- Apr 6, 2009
- 54,207
- 3,413
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Tom's does not sell email addresses. I have been a member for more than 8 years and this has never been an issue.
More likely, this issue is coincidental.
You should scan your system with an application like Malwarebytes to check for malware. Also, make sure your anti-virus program is up to date. Double check any browser add-ons as well for any you didn't intend to install.
Good luck.
More likely, this issue is coincidental.
You should scan your system with an application like Malwarebytes to check for malware. Also, make sure your anti-virus program is up to date. Double check any browser add-ons as well for any you didn't intend to install.
Good luck.
mjslakeridge
Splendid
- Mar 6, 2013
- 3,386
- 4
- 21,965
What would be the marketing synergy between a tech site and supermarkets? I have been on Tom's for about 4 years and have received zero emails from supermarkets.
Please then explain why an email address that was not used for anything else and had never had any junk mail to speak of, was spammed with junk mail from 6 different supermarkets (and only supermarkets) just hours after joining this site.
- Mar 16, 2013
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Not sure how this might convince you, but I have absolutely not seen this, being a member here for just over 4 years.
And this is the first report I've ever seen here mentioning this. If it was actually happening...we'd have seen a LOT of reports about this, not just this one
And this is the first report I've ever seen here mentioning this. If it was actually happening...we'd have seen a LOT of reports about this, not just this one
- Aug 24, 2012
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Just to add to the chorus. I've been here for nearly 5 years and there's been absolutely no email other than site related in all that time. Have you actually scanned for malware, using multiple titles, or are you simply making accusations without evidence?
mjslakeridge
Splendid
- Mar 6, 2013
- 3,386
- 4
- 21,965
How would the supermarkets know your physical location based on the email address? Are the supermarkets sending you emails actually in your area? Tom's has members from all over the world. A user's email address would not be very useful to supermarkets, since most are local/regional.
mjslakeridge
Splendid
- Mar 6, 2013
- 3,386
- 4
- 21,965
I am not trying to defend Tom's, just applying some logic. If they were in the business of selling user's email addresses, wouldn't you think it would be to companies that actually sell computer or other electronic parts? Until I actually bought something from them, I have not received any emails from Newegg, Superbiz, MicroCenter, etc.
Solandri
Illustrious
- Jan 4, 2012
- 4,919
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My mail server is on my own domain, so I create a different email address for every site I sign up for (e.g. tomshardware@mydomain.com). I'm approaching 900 different email addresses now.
Except for two companies, virtually everyone abides by their privacy policy and does not sell the email address I gave them - I haven't received spam at those addresses. The two exceptions are Adobe (happened once right after they got hacked) and Microsoft (have had 3 waves of spam in 10 years so I'm pretty sure they're selling it).
Based on some of the virus behavior I've helped track down, your email address is usually stolen when someone you know has their email account hacked. The thieves get the person's contact list and past emails, and are able to harvest your email address that way.
Except for two companies, virtually everyone abides by their privacy policy and does not sell the email address I gave them - I haven't received spam at those addresses. The two exceptions are Adobe (happened once right after they got hacked) and Microsoft (have had 3 waves of spam in 10 years so I'm pretty sure they're selling it).
Based on some of the virus behavior I've helped track down, your email address is usually stolen when someone you know has their email account hacked. The thieves get the person's contact list and past emails, and are able to harvest your email address that way.
- Jul 24, 2006
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Stick your email address in here: https://haveibeenpwned.com
If it doesn't come back green then you probably have your answer. If it does come back green then you're still in the dark.
If it doesn't come back green then you probably have your answer. If it does come back green then you're still in the dark.
If you could say that the email was ONLY given to TH and no one else then that is good proof.
If you have had it for 6 years, then anyone out there that has that email address could have sold it or been hacked.
If your security dumb-dumb friend had their single password for facebook, twitter, email, icloud and everything else hacked then they now have your email address and it probably got sold.
- Jul 24, 2006
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- Jul 24, 2006
- 22,736
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How do you know I'm not a sophisticated chat bot? You don't. Same applies here. But it wouldn't be a very efficient way to collect email addresses. Hundreds of millions are publicly available already.
- Dec 26, 2012
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I've had the same Hotmail email address for 21 years in July. Never had any spam to speak of. Been surfing/member of Tom's since right after it hit the web, in a couple of accounts, this being the most recent. Never had an issue till recently, namely my daughter discovered she liked surfing minecraft vids/mods. 3 weeks after she started, now I get spam, the most common being for guys with flagpole issues, the next most common is 'we noticed you visited one of our websites'. Spam emails are rarely personal, more often they are either the result of a Trojan /malware attack or simply 'cold calls' like telemarketing used to be. Somebody, somewhere is getting paid by the vendor to use his pc and run emails to anyone and everyone, starting with easy names like johnsmith@gmail etc.
Tom's doesn't sell emails, they don't have too to make money, they don't need it. Tom's is owned by Purch, a digital marketing company designed to help shoppers make smarter purchases, who you can guarantee does not sell emails either, or they'd be out of business in a heartbeat.
The only thing shady about Tom's is some of the characters the mods have to deal with on a daily basis
Tom's doesn't sell emails, they don't have too to make money, they don't need it. Tom's is owned by Purch, a digital marketing company designed to help shoppers make smarter purchases, who you can guarantee does not sell emails either, or they'd be out of business in a heartbeat.
The only thing shady about Tom's is some of the characters the mods have to deal with on a daily basis
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