Got a warning email from Amazon about something I didn't do

[abaganov2]

I just got an email from amazon warning me that my account is in danger and I need to fix the following:

• You are promoting your Special Links by including them in emails to your customers.

Thing is that I never sent any Amazon link via email and email marketing is not something I even practise, I am not even collecting emails at my websites. all my Amazon links are strictly on blog posts.

I am thinking maybe it's possible that one of my competitors are trying to get me in trouble and have been using my affiliate links in emails and then reporting it to amazon? then what can I do really? When you think about it, it's a serious loophole in the Amazon affiliates policies, anybody can just copy his competitor amazon links, then use them in a forbidden way like sending mass spam emails with them and get him banned.

They told me I have 10 days to fix the issue but I have nothing to fix, should I just tell them that? feeling kind of nervous about as I am being accused of something I didn't do and there is nothing I can do to fix it.

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[Graybeard]

I am thinking maybe it's possible that one of my competitors are trying to get me in trouble and have been using my affiliate links in emails and then reporting it to amazon? then what can I do really? When you think about it, it's a serious loophole in the Amazon affiliates policies, anybody can just copy his competitor amazon links, then use them in a forbidden way like sending mass spam emails with them and get him banned.

The internet is very malicious in that way --that is possible.

I have seen this situation alluded to before and it's almost impossible to prove or disprove the true source other than the source of the spam emails -- request the headers of the emails Amazon claims are yours. You may be able to investigate and make complaints against the sender of the emails --put the heat on the sender somehow.

 

[abaganov2]

The internet is very malicious in that way --that is possible.

I have seen this situation alluded to before and it's almost impossible to prove or disprove the true source other than the source of the spam emails -- request the headers of the emails Amazon claims are yours. You may be able to investigate and make complaints against the sender of the emails --put the heat on the sender somehow.

Thank you! Yes I will ask them for more info about those emails. I really hate this.

 

[T J Tutor]

Everyone gets attacked one way or another in their online businesses. It is always a challenge keeping a step ahead of them.

We were recently spoofed as the source of a massive email spamming to tens of thousands of recipients. We finally tracked down the source and got them banned from their registrar, but not without challenges left to correct. next, we had to coordinate with the registrar and our Google account manager to remove the spam reports from our profile.

This is a tough and frequent consequence with doing business online. We see it everyday in many forms. It isn't going away, so we need to make sure all of us take the offenders to task and shut them down whenever we can.

 

[Graybeard]

Play hardball
get the headers of the spam emails

Email Blacklist Check - IP Blacklist Check - See if your server is blacklisted

mxtoolbox.com

get the sender ips
contact the owner/user of that IP an threaten to report his ip to the Spam blocking lists
If the IP is assigned to an ESP (Email service provider) getting their IP blocked would servery create problems for the business and email delivery.
If that IP belongs to a data center --same thing and spam is a TOS-AUP policy violation (in most cases) --that account gets closed.
trace the IP assignment:

Whois/Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)

Registry Data Access Protocol (RDAP) is a Whois alternative for looking up IP addresses, Autonomous System Numbers and related information.

www.arin.net