Where did the big increase in Email subscribers come from?

[Spur]

I doubt if I should be complaining about this but our email subscriber list has increased by about 50% over the last month or two!! We're in a bit of a niche market and only operate in the UK so the increase has taken us by surprise.

A lot of the email addresses have a '+' in the address which I find strange and most of them have this in the history 'Online Store created this customer'.

Does anyone know - are these being generated by some bot somewhere? Can only think that the Shop app might be creating them? If so, how do I stop them?

Thanks 

[ES1]

Hi Spur,

The presence of a ‘+’ in email addresses is not necessarily an indication of spam. This is a common technique known as email aliasing. Many email providers, like Gmail, allow users to add a ‘+’ followed by additional text to their email addresses. For example, username+alias@gmail.com will still be delivered to username@gmail.com. This can be used for filtering or tracking purposes.

However, the note “Online Store created this customer” could indicate that these email addresses were generated automatically, possibly through a form submission or a bot. Here are a few steps to help you determine if these are spam:

1. Check for Patterns

• Look for patterns in the email addresses. If many of them follow a similar structure, it might be a sign of automated creation.

2. Review Customer Activity

• Check the activity associated with these customers. If they have no purchase history or engagement, they might be spam.

3. Enable CAPTCHA

• To prevent bots from creating fake accounts, enable CAPTCHA on your forms. This adds an extra layer of security.

4. Use Shopify Apps

• Consider using apps like Shop Protector or ReCaptcha to help identify and block spam accounts.

5. Contact Shopify Support

• If you’re still unsure, you can reach out to Shopify Support for further assistance. They can help you investigate and take appropriate action.

Regards

[bundler-marko]

Hi @Spur,

I hope that they all authentique, while there is no definitive way to check if an email is real or not. You could take a look at it and notice if it looks like a real email a person might have and spot any patters that large influx of emails might have.

Regards,

Marko