Spamtrap

A spamtrap is an email address used by an anti-spam service to track spam-like activities. These email addresses are placed on websites, circulated on Usenet groups, forums, etc, in order to have them harvested by automated email address collecting scripts.

As the email address is not owned by an individual, any email sent to it can reasonably be considered to be spam. The systems monitoring the inbox could then apply a block (based on content matching, sending address, IP address, etc) affecting general delivery to other recipients using the anti-spam service.

In most cases, spamtraps are found is lists of dubious provenance (e.g. lists that are bought, rented, or shared) or where an organisation operates lax contact data and permission procedures.