HACKER Q&A
📣 CharlieDigital

What is the scam here (random email from dating site)?


Over the last week, I've received random emails from two dating sites.

On 12/09, I received one from CoffeeMeetBagel addressed to "Michael" (but using my email). I've never heard of this site and certainly I am far removed from the dating scene.

It was curious, but I checked my Gmail activity log and there was nothing suspicious; all IPs match my location.

Then today, I received another one from Match addressed to "John".

Again, there's no odd activity for my Gmail account and no confirmation email from either of these platforms.

I'm wondering if this is happening in anyone else's inbox and what the motive is? Why use a random person's email to register accounts on dating sites? Are there other signs I should look for for signals of compromise? What's the scam here?

The origin emails look legit as do the target URLs in the email.


  👤 LinuxBender Accepted Answer ✓
Did you put the email and its full headers in the google email analyzer [1] and does it show anything odd or interesting? Another option is to put the email and headers into Spamcop [2] and let them decide if it should be blocked.

As to what game they are playing, it's probably just a poorly configured or broken spam script. Assume malfeasance, report them, block them and ignore. If you are feeling adventurous, create a throw away email, wipe all cookies and contact the "company" they are spamming but do not give them your email address or name ... but I would not expect to learn anything.

[1] - https://support.google.com/mail/answer/29436?hl=en

[2] - https://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml


👤 beardyw
I have a couple of first name second name Gmail accounts and I regularly get odd emails (like about my new bike bought in New York - never been there). It seems to be mostly either transcription errors or people trying to see if there is a verification process. Never had any actual problems, though a pet may yet still not have had it's treatment (I did my best).

👤 pestatije
depends on how obvious it is...whats your email address?