I've been dealing with a frustrating situation regarding unsolicited marketing emails from a UK company. Despite opting out of their emails, I've been receiving marketing messages that appear to be legitimate. They use a .brand top-level domain that they control. I've checked the email headers, and the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validations all pass. This leads me to wonder: are these emails definitely coming from the company, or could there be other explanations? I'm considering that either they mistakenly haven't removed me from their lists or possibly their systems have been compromised. Any advice or insights on how to approach this?
5 Answers
If both DKIM and SPF align, it’s very unlikely that the emails are from another sender. That should give you more confidence when you confront them about these messages.
It seems like the company you're dealing with might not be fully aware of their own email practices. I recommend looking into any consumer protection laws that might apply. If you can prove you've opted out and are still receiving these emails, you might have grounds for a complaint. If they're truly unaware, this could be a wake-up call for them.
Thanks for the advice! It's already at the legal stage after nearly a year, and their legal rep asked for copies of the emails, which makes me think they might not have all the info. Blocking their email isn't ideal since I still need it for other communications.
This could definitely be the work of a third-party marketing firm. Many companies outsource these tasks, and sometimes they don’t communicate well. It’s worth investigating further to see if that’s the case.
If you're able to access the SMTP server logs, that can provide a lot of clarity. It would show if the recipient's server accepted the messages, but keep in mind they could still end up in spam filters after that. Just make sure you're not mixing things up—I see you're obviously on the receiving end of those emails.
I appreciate the clarification! I'm trying to gather as much evidence as possible to make my case.
Analyzing the full message headers can be very revealing. They’ll show the complete path the emails took, which can confirm their origin. Don't skip this step when presenting your case.
Thanks, that helps a lot! It definitely strengthens my position as I deal with this.