Fake Email Address

[TonyP435]

Hey guys,

I was recently charged , which was higher than normal.  Today I investigated this by looking to see how many email addresses we were up to.  WHOA, well over 500.  Turns out over 120 of them were fake!  Yes, there were troll-level fake email addresses, but I mean robot generated fake emails with names like; "5k6hth8hyd8d9s" The majority of the 120+ were these types of emails. 

Something doesn't seem right about it, and I've paid for it.  

[Zoe_H]

Hello @TonyP435,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community! It sounds like you may have a sign-up form on your website that was affected by a bot attack. That means you were spammed with fake email addresses. If you have a sign-up form on your website, that is not one of ours, I suggest using one that you create on your account. It adds protection from bot attacks after a certain amount of email addresses signs up on it. I recommend deleting those email addresses out of your account, and letting us know if these could have came from a sign-up form. 

[TonyP435]

We actually do use a CC template for our email sign ups.

[Frankie_P]

Hi @TonyP435

Thank you for giving us this update. Because you are using one of our sign-up forms, I would suggest enabling the confirmed opt-in for new sign-ups. This setting will send an automatic confirmation email when contacts join a a list. This confirmation email not only helps to ensure your permission to send, but also to weed out any spam emails as well.

[JamesE6]

TonyP435

We've had the same problem and, BAD experience. CC's only solution is to run this confirmed Opt-In wizard which left us in a big jam. My important member database is now cut to 25% of where we were and we are only a tiny nonprofit firm. Plus they can't legally help us restore all our prior emails. This is causing us DAYS of added work.

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @JamesE6. Although we have limited information as to what was discussed with our support team earlier, I can understand how the confirmed opt-in process would affect who you can send emails to and I apologize that this is causing you extra work. If you have further questions, I would recommend contacting our Deliverability team directly for guidance. 

[RichardK972]

We are receiving fake emails into our account - and we do not use the CC sign up template.
Any ideas how to stop getting these? 

See image attached: 

[Frankie_P]

Hi @RichardK972 

I'm so sorry to hear this is happening with your contacts! We have seen some cases where bot email addresses can sign-up through a form posted online. In these cases we suggest turning on the confirmed opt-in setting in your account. Turning on this setting will cause contacts to confirm via a confirmed opt-in email before being added into your account. Having to confirm their sign-up interest will help eliminate any fake addresses from being added.