Equifax deny sharing my email address

Bitstring , from the wonderful person nick said

Actually there are other possible explanations, like a dictionary attack ... however the balance of probabilities is definitely with you.

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" wrote

I think this is possibly quite likely.

Nick said he'd given them the email address "equifax @ mydomain".

I have actually given them two different email addresses - one of which was also "equifax @ mydomain" (obviously a different domain to nick's!).

Interestingly, I received exactly the same spam sent to the address "equifax @ mydomain", but *not* to the other address which I had given to Equifax. Looks like some spammer is sending their rubbish to email addresses starting "equifax @ ", but quite why, I wouldn't know...

I think a more reasonable explanation is that Equifax share with 3rd parties but deny it. Just think of the value of that information they hold. The spam I've received is all financial related, not your typical viagra spam. AND, its all UK based, and how would they know my .org domain that is actually based in the USA, is UK? Interestingly, I only started receiving spam after I told equifax to stop sending me email on that address.

Using a similar system to yourself to track "leaks" of information, i`ve only ever had two places release the email address to spammers over a period of about 4 (?) years - uktv and ticketmaster.

This is despite having probably several hundred "unique" email addresses in circulation now, under several domain names.

I had ticketmaster bang to rights, as it was all their own affiliated tickety/venue spamvertising sites sending the sh*te.

I`m cynical, but I believe I would have been the recipient of a lot more spam via dictionary attacks rather than by the unauthorised release of data if they were that effective.

I check 7 email addresses a day, and used to get ~580 spam mails per day (my current spamlegit mail ratio is 95%+ spam), so I think I have a reasonable grasp of the proliferation of spam.

AAMOI I also gave a unique e-mail address to Equifax and I've received no spam to that address, except *from* Equifax of course.

OK - just suppose for a moment you are correct. What is your next action?

Why would they need your daytime phone number? What urgent matter that could possibly be? Surely, everything they could ever want to tell you they'd put in writing, wouldn't they?

Joe R

"nick" wrote

Then can you explain why the other email address I gave them received *no* spam?

Why (and how) would you give them two email addresses?

"nick" wrote

Two different visits to their website.

But you didn't answer my question - if they have sold the email addresses, then why did I only get spam to " equifax @ mydomain " and not to the other email address I gave?

Care to share?