Published on · RedData Legal
What an abuse report is
An abuse report is the documented communication of an unsolicited email to the provider that made it possible. Email-sending providers (email-marketing platforms, automated prospecting tools, mailbox providers), hosting providers and domain registrars prohibit unsolicited sending in their terms of use and maintain a specific channel to receive these reports, usually an abuse@ address or a form.
Who is reported to
- The sending provider: the one identified in the email headers (outgoing servers, DKIM signatures, campaign identifiers). This is the report with the most effect: the provider can suspend or cancel the account used to send.
- The hosting provider of the domain or of the website linked in the email, whose abuse contact appears in the public registry of the IP address.
- The domain registrar, whose abuse contact appears in the domain's public registry (RDAP, which replaces the old WHOIS) and which can require the holder to stop the abusive use.
What an effective report contains
The full original email with its headers, the date and time of receipt, the identification of the affected mailbox, the absence of consent and the legal reference (article 21 of the Spanish LSSI-CE and, where applicable, the GDPR). The more verifiable the evidence, the faster the provider acts.
What anti-spam blocklists are
Blocklists (Spamhaus, SpamCop, SURBL and similar) are public databases of IP addresses and domains associated with sending unsolicited email. Receiving mail servers query them in real time before accepting a message. A listed domain or IP sees its emails rejected or sent to the spam folder at a very significant share of destinations, regardless of the content of each message.
How it affects the sender
- Domain reputation: the major mailbox providers (Google, Microsoft and others) assign the sending domain a reputation based on complaints, bounces and listings. A poor reputation affects all of the domain's email, including legitimate email.
- Account suspension: sending providers frequently suspend accounts that are the subject of documented reports, and prospecting tools deactivate the affected domains and mailboxes.
- Recovery cost: getting off a blocklist and recovering reputation takes time, technical changes and, sometimes, a change of domain or provider.
How to avoid it
The only safe way is not to send commercial email without prior consent. If an email has already been sent and a claim is received, dealing with it within the deadlines prevents the reports and the blocklist submissions from being activated for that email.