Our policy on unsolicited commercial email
Leeds.biz does not send out unsolicited commercial email, or 'spam'. In fact, currently we typically receive over 800 direct spam messages each day, the vast majority of which are dealt with by spam filters. Despite this, like many other small busineses, it is still represents a drain on our resources which is both unfair and unjustified.
Email we may send
Because we maintain a large database of Leeds-based businesses and organisations, we may wish to occasionally communicate with these companies. However, with the exception of our strictly opt-in email list, any emails we send will always be individual to the company concerned. We do not send bulk email, and we would always respect a request from a member of our database not to email them directly in future.
Are you apparently receiving spam from Leeds.biz?
If you receive an unsolicited bulk email address apparently coming from Leeds.biz, please delete it - it is not from us. Like an increasing number of other companies, organisations and individuals, we have been the victim of forged email headers - a so-called Joe Job. Spammers do not use their real email addresses for obvious reasons, but they can not send email from randomly generated domain addresses, since a basic check many Internet spam filters perform is to ensure that the domain an email says it is from actually exists.
Because of this is that spammers will typically use existing domains for the domain part of their forged email headers, in order to get past basic spam filter checks. Because they probably don't know what real email addresses exist at that domain, and in order to further confuse the spam filters, they will usually randomise the username part of the email address multiple times.
So, although you may think you are receiving spam from Leeds.biz or other companies who have been joe-jobbed, in reality you aren't.
Joe Jobs - The Cost
The unfortunate reality of the practice of forging email headers is that it can carry a high cost for an innocent organisation. When an email can not be delivered for some reason the mail will ultimately be bounced back by the receiving email server. So unfortunately the result of this for the person or organisation which has its domain forged as part of an email address is that they will receive multiple 'undeliverable' messages if they have a so-called 'catch-all' email box that takes anything @ yourdomain. (These 'catch-all'/generic email boxes can be useful as you will still receive email even if a customer spells the username part of the email address incorrectly, but we probably wouldn't recommend them due to the increasing joe-job problem).
Depending on the number of email messages sent by the spammer, these undeliverable bounce back messages can turn into a deluge. In the early days of our company falling victim to this practice, we were receiving over 100 undeliverable messages per hour, destroying our ability to use email for serveral days. Like many other victims of this particular crime, we know that this may mean that - to this day - our domains are regarded as blacklisted by some Internet spam filters - damaging our ability to communicate with our customers. And because the spammers themselves know this, they are always ready to add new domains to maximise their chances of successful delivery. Unfortunately, your domain could be next.
How you can help fight spam
Spam exists because, sadly, it can work. Don't buy goods or services advertised by spammers. Ensure that your computer system does not fall victim to spyware and spammers.
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