"Paul Smythe"

This entry is a placeholder for the presumed owner of an extensive set of spam-advertised domains. The domains are registered under a variety of names, including Paul O'Brien, Paul Smythe, Paul Smith and Phil Sabin, but similarities and connections between messages, domains and registered contact addresses point to a single individual or operation behind all the domains.

Unsolicited emails referencing these domains typically promote one of a number of businesses or products — a marketing company called KT8 Marketing, bulk email software called Intelligent Mailer, telephone number sales marketed under the name Numbers for Business, and business training courses marketed under the names Britain in Business, Bitesize Seminars, No Fear Cold Calling, and Stepping into Business. Recent domains are now registered to a company called Communicado Ltd, but the general format of the emails and the businesses advertised remain the same.

Typically, each spam run advertising one of these businesses will reference a new domain name, apparently for message-tracking purposes or as an attempt to avoid spam filtering. Although the domains are clearly used for business purposes, the WHOIS information for some domains states that:

The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Ironically, a website advertising the Intelligent Mailer software contains the excellent advice:

... always, and I mean always use a double opt-in confirmation process ... after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, you should then send them a "confirmation" email ... [to] verify that this visitor did indeed sign up to your mailing list.

Unfortunately, it appears that they do not follow their own recommendations.