Okay now that we got that out of the way, let us reiterate that since the inception of this site we have had a clear privacy policy available that we adhere to religiously.

We only communicate on a one-on-one basis with clients, vendors and the media. We do not send out emails for stocks, viagra and the like.

If you're here then it's either because you're curious or you've received emails with our domain (popartpet.com) in the from line. For the curious, knock yourself out. :) For those that have received spam with our domain (popartpet.com) in the from: or reply to: lines of your email, we are victims just as you are.

In their never ending enterprise of sending spam and hiding who they really are, spammers employ all sorts of tactics and one is forging the email headers. When you receive spam, more often than not, the from and reply to lines are domains that have nothing to do with the email being sent. This practice has become commonly known as joejobbing. Actually joejobbing is a term used for a malicious attack on a specific email address to damage the individual, more commonly, the spammer is using the domain, with hundreds of others and randomly generating usernames like [email protected]. The point of using real domains is to get past simple checks done by mail servers, to see if the sending domain is valid.
This is why you shouldn't bother replying to these sorts of emails, either you're emailing someone who like you, is a victim, or you might be replying to a bot who you've just told that you're email address is valid and ready to receive more spam.

Current estimates from a variety of sources, put spam at 98% of all emails sent, and with the introduction of botnets both owned and rented by spammers that number may even increase. The botnets provide emails from malware infected machines address books, and send the spam with forged headers. Because no one machine, no one ISP, and no one person is sending the emails, its impossible to report the spam, and impossible for the layperson to track down the botnet controller.

What you can do:
Make sure you're not part of the problem, keep your anti-virus software and spyware/malware removal tools up to date. Tell everyone you know to do the same, because if someone you know falls prey to a virus or malware, they could be exposing your information to spammers. Here are some resources for those that don't currently have anti-virus software or malware protection:
Anti-Virus Software
Spyware/MalWare Removal Software

Educate yourself and your family and friends, the only reason that spam works is because people actually buy from spammers or buy into/invest in their schemes or fall for their scams. Email for the spammer, is a cheap way to get their junk out to millions of people and if even a miniscule percentage of those people click on a link they make money. We need to stop putting money into the hands of the spammers, it's the only power we have over them.

Keep your email address OFF the net, yes you read that right, if you have to give out your address on a forum, or to a company you're not sure of (lack of a privacy policy should concern you), then use a service like Trashmail. This will protect your actual address and hopefully keep it out of the hands of the spammers.

Other Resources:
FTC's spam site - offers some tips and tricks to help you with the flow of spam to your inbox.
Privacy Rights - A wealth of resources on battling spam.
SpamCop - A way to help fight the spammers.
Spam Huntress - One woman who had enough.

If you did receive an email with our domain used, we apologize to you for not being able to prevent it. Hopefully after reading this page you have a better understanding of how this might have happened and how you can actually help.

Okay now we have to go check our email and delete all the spam we've received! ;)