Why Kieron Jackson?

September 11, 2006 9:25 PM

Why do I get so much spam addressed to "Kieron Jackson"?

I have Googled and Snoped. It's mostly prescription spam, but also mortgages and loans. I am not asking how to filter it, that's not the issue. Almost all my spam gets filtered, but it's amazing how much of it is "attention Kieron Jackson." Is it some of kind of spammer's trick? Does anyone else get this? (Oh, and sorry to prevent a good joke response, but, no my name is not Kieron Jackson.)

posted by The Deej to computers & internet (8 comments total)

I do not get the Kieron Jackson spam, but over 70% of the spam I get is addressed to Steve Ford. My name is not Steve Ford. Not even close. I own a Ford, but c'mon.

I am very curious as to the answer myself. Thank you for asking.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:42 PM on September 11, 2006

It's because, sometime back, an unethical person got your email address, and didn't have your name. So he made up a name, and sold the address/name pairing to one or more spammers.

Spammers share lists, so now everyone in the world thinks there's a "Kieron Jackson" at your email address.

It's actually very convenient, because it gives you a near-perfect filter term for your anti-spam system.
posted by Malor at 8:28 AM on September 12, 2006

(Interesting. So if Malor's right, the culprit is a doubly unethical person. He sold you out to the spammers, and he sold the spammers bad information.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:24 AM on September 12, 2006

Spammers just put %FIRST_NAME %LAST_NAME into emails to try to bypass filters. It's nothing personal, they're just populating variables from lists of potential first names and last names.

I got those variables from some spam software that didn't do its job - the spammer never bothered to fill them in.
posted by drstein at 9:54 AM on September 12, 2006

Michael Rinehart, for me. Lots, from different senders.
posted by baylink at 1:27 PM on September 12, 2006

i think it's because spam transcends the boundaries of alternate universes (universi?), and i suspect your name in one such alternate universe is Kieron Jackson...the first thing i would do is ask my mom if she ever dated or almost made out with a Jackson boy...
posted by troybob at 1:58 PM on September 12, 2006 [1 favorite]

Brittany Zella for me. Always wondered about that. Great Question.
posted by srboisvert at 5:25 PM on September 12, 2006

Antonio Irizarry for me.
posted by AuntLisa at 5:28 PM on September 12, 2006