SimpleVerifier Team · Reviewed
What is a spam trap and can email verification find it?
A spam trap is an address run by a mailbox provider or blocklist operator to catch senders with poor list practices. Verification cannot reliably find them, because traps are built to look like valid addresses. The defence is list hygiene: never buy lists, remove dormant addresses, and suppress bounces.
Two kinds
Pristine traps were never used by a person, so appearing on your list means the address was scraped or bought. Recycled traps belonged to real people, were abandoned, then repurposed; mailing a long-dormant list is how they get hit. Spamhaus advises fixing the practice that put the trap on the list instead of removing individual addresses.
SimpleVerifier does not claim to identify spam traps.
Related questions
- How do I avoid spam traps?
- Collect addresses with confirmation, do not buy or scrape lists, and stop mailing people who have not engaged for a long time.
Sources
Figures marked as ours come from SimpleVerifier’s own dated tests on made-up addresses, published with their data on the research page. No customer data is used, and we publish no accuracy percentage because we have no independent measurement to back one.
Do it now
Test it on a real address first
Type any address. It gets the same check the paid plans run: syntax, the domain’s mail servers and, where the provider allows it, a live mailbox check. Nothing is sent to the address.
Five checks a minute, no account needed. Nothing is sent to the address — we ask its mail server whether the mailbox exists, then disconnect.
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