Spam traps are decoy addresses that mailbox providers and blacklist operators plant to catch spammers. They never sign up for anything — so if one is sitting in your list, it's a sign you grew that list without permission.
The types
- Pristine trap: an address that was never used by anyone and exists purely as a trap.
- Recycled trap: an old, abandoned address that a provider has repurposed as a trap.
How to protect yourself
Routine list verification is the only real defense. Qulaq's smart spam-trap indicators flag and remove matching records before you hit send.