I have a domain name I use as an email bounce when I don’t want to give out my actual email address, and I noticed that I recieved a spam message to my address sofirn(at)mydomain(dot)com from CBD Shop, that has my name in it.
Did Sofirn sell my data, or did they get breached?
Or is this someone at Sofirn starting up a new thing and being clever with account info?
Some other explanation?
“Dear NAME,
you received this email because you bought something in our store or subscribed to our newsletter.
Never had to deal with that. Only (sporadic) mail from companies I bought something.
OTOH When I reacted on sales on (what I thought to be) an international Olight website, it turned out to be US based and the discounts were dwarfed by the shipping costs. I gave them by email address. Now they keep on sending me mail, though I several times tried to stop them.
As for Sofirn: never any unwanted mail. Maybe your address turned up at a mother company of Sofirn. Or, what you already suggested, somebody is trying to set up a shop of their own.
I think he is saying that he uses a unique email for every site he signs up to.
Many people do this. For example if your gmail address is jomsmith@gmail then you can use jonsmith+sofirn@gmail when you sign up to sofirn. It will reach you. If you get spam to this address then you know sofirn sold your address or were breached.
Anyway I am not surprised. China companies have no respect for privacy and data protection.
Probably, but you get to buy lights at extremely cheap prices (compared to manufacturing in most other countries)… I don’t see what the problem is?
Next you’ll be complaining that working conditions in Chinese factories are exploitative or the lax environmental regulations mean the manufacturer’s are damaging the environment… There’s just no pleasing some people…
The problem is that unsolicited email is a huge PIA. It costs industry and individuals billions every year in costs for technology and lost time. Avoiding it, or at least knowing the source and avoiding it in the future is a good thing. Being able to buy cheap lights is fine, but having people sell your information is not. The product has no bearing on the privacy part.
If their site has been hacked and more than email addresses have been stolen or sold, that is much worse. This is at very least very much worth knowing.
BTW, this applies regardless of where the company is located or what they are selling. China just seems to have the worst record in these areas.
It’s not about stopping spam. It’s about knowing who is leaking your email to spammers intentionally or accidentally. So you can avoid doing business with them, and/or warn others.
Obviously this does not apply to Chinese companies, but in EU a company can get a big fine if they leak customer data or hand it to unauthorized parties.
a few days ago, to test the claim in this thread that the sofirn email list is being misused, I created a unique email, and created an account on sofirnlight.com
I still have not received any CBD spam. Actually zero spam at all.
I also created a unique email on Aliex, so I could use the Official Sofirn Store.
I still have not received any CBD spam.
The only Spam I have received is an offer from Aliexpress, for a sale priced SC21 Pro.
so afaict, neither Sofirn sales site is selling my email to a CBD company.
oh, and, my “normal” email address that I use for sofirn, has also not received any CBD spam… zero spam of any kind actually…
