question Why Is My Domain Getting Flooded With Catch-All Email?

[URL Stream]

I have a domain that’s received 6,700+ catch-all emails over the past few months.

They all appear to be typical spam.

What would cause a specific domain to become such a magnet for this kind of activity?

And for the people who’ll say they can’t answer without knowing the domain, it’s: HARCPA .com

 

[nicenic]

This is pretty common when catch-all is enabled. If you do not actually need catch-all, I suggest turnning it off and only keep the specific mailboxes or aliases you use.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

6,700 emails is common?
You can suggest turning off catchall, but chatgpt, I turn it on for every name.
Be more creative with your prompts to chatgpt or do you just ask how should i reply?

This is pretty common when catch-all is enabled. If you do not actually need catch-all, I suggest turnning it off and only keep the specific mailboxes or aliases you use.

 

[fka1080405]

I receive a few hundred thousand emails per month across my various domains, with some domains attracting similar numbers. The main cause seems to be that the domain was previously used for one or more email address that has ended up being published somewhere quite popular.

For example, I own a domain that previously belonged to a ~20 year old pharmacy services business that was eventually acquired and renamed. The domain has appeared in many places online as an email address, like press releases. I've received ~100k emails to that domain.

Another possibility is that, for whatever reason, someone has been using the domain to sign up to various services when typing randomly. One of my domains is the sort of thing someone might type when trying to come up with a fake email address, so that gets a lot of spam to obviously fake email addresses.

Looking at your domain, I can see it still appears in various places as an email address, including the contact page for HRC Hotels and on NextDoor. I'd guess most of the emails are to addresses that were once in use, and because those addresses have appeared frequently online, they're in lots of spam lists.

Something important to note is that catch-all email systems may accept anything[1], including email that would be rejected by a "real" email system. So, you're not necessarily seeing the same email you would see if you had set the domain up with Gmail or Outlook, you're seeing junk that wouldn't even make it as far as Gmail's junk folder because it is obviously not legitimate email.

[1] Depends on the system so there may be some anti-spam in place in whichever system you use. For my system, I accept everything.

 

[URL Stream]

I receive a few hundred thousand emails per month across my various domains, with some domains attracting similar numbers. The main cause seems to be that the domain was previously used for one or more email address that has ended up being published somewhere quite popular.

For example, I own a domain that previously belonged to a ~20 year old pharmacy services business that was eventually acquired and renamed. The domain has appeared in many places online as an email address, like press releases. I've received ~100k emails to that domain.

Another possibility is that, for whatever reason, someone has been using the domain to sign up to various services when typing randomly. One of my domains is the sort of thing someone might type when trying to come up with a fake email address, so that gets a lot of spam to obviously fake email addresses.

Looking at your domain, I can see it still appears in various places as an email address, including the contact page for HRC Hotels and on NextDoor. I'd guess most of the emails are to addresses that were once in use, and because those addresses have appeared frequently online, they're in lots of spam lists.

Something important to note is that catch-all email systems may accept anything[1], including email that would be rejected by a "real" email system. So, you're not necessarily seeing the same email you would see if you had set the domain up with Gmail or Outlook, you're seeing junk that wouldn't even make it as far as Gmail's junk folder because it is obviously not legitimate email.

[1] Depends on the system so there may be some anti-spam in place in whichever system you use. For my system, I accept everything.

Ah, and it's on LinkedIn.

Basically, HAR CPA .com (unaffiliated with HAR.cpa) merged with Manor CPA, which later merged with Baker Holtz CPA, and they now all operate under Maner Costerisan.

In general, when a company merges and subsequently drops its domain, how does that tend to affect the resale potential of the name?

 

[fka1080405]

In general, when a company merges and subsequently drops its domain, how does that tend to affect the resale potential of the name?

Hmmm, I'm not sure. I don't have a strong theory either way. I guess leaning towards it being beneficial? I think there is the potential that the drop might have been accidental (because nobody was paying attention to the "old" domain any more) and so there is an opportunity to sell it to the company once they realise. Another potential is that there is a competitor that would like to pick up the domain to use as a redirect to capture any residual traffic. Since a merger is not a shut down, it is more likely than a shut down business that there would be people still trying to visit the website as the business will still have clients (just servicing them from a new domain).

I think overall though, the benefits are probably marginal at best compared to a domain that has been dropped for any other reason. The key signal we get from a domain being dropped is that there is at least one person on earth who at some point the domain was worth registering.

 

[nicenic]

6,700 emails is common?
You can suggest turning off catchall, but chatgpt, I turn it on for every name.
Be more creative with your prompts to chatgpt or do you just ask how should i reply

I just meant catch-all is useful if you actually want to see everything coming in, but for a normal inbox you’ll end up seeing a lot of junk email quickly.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Every domain I own is run thru cpanel, with catchall in place for every name.
Only a few names I get emails.
As for needing catchall, incoming mail may influence the pricing.
Like if you dont need chatgpt to write your responses, don’t use it.
Obviously some do.

You go from suggesting to turn it off if not needed to yes its useful. Not sure what you meant. Doubt you do either.

This is pretty common when catch-all is enabled. If you do not actually need catch-all, I suggest turnning it off and only keep the specific mailboxes or aliases you use.

I just meant catch-all is useful if you actually want to see everything coming in, but for a normal inbox you’ll end up seeing a lot of junk email quickly.