When I moved here (North Carolina) I had to get a new ISP (Cable).

 

I had to create a username and password.

 

That username became my e-mail address...(Username@newisp.net) because it was required by my ISP to set up my Broadband Service

 

But I've had my own domain since....what...1998?...maybe 1999? (I've moved from Maryland...to Connecticut, then to NC in that time...yet my E-mail address has remained the same)

 

So I didn't need that e-mail address from the ISP...so I NEVER used it...Not once did I send an e-mail through that account, nor did I use it to sign up at any site.

I never even gave that e-mail address to anyone(Verbally or Non-Verbally)...It only existed because my ISP required it to set up my internet service.

 

But it is set up in Outlook, although It doesn't really need to be...I just keep it alive in the event my ISP decides to send me information regarding my account...(after all.."THEY" are the only ones who have that address...Right?)

 

So that ISP account gets checked along with every other e-mail account I have set up such as "My" domain e-mail addresses...and some client's account's (Webmaster@Clients_domain.com for example.) and filtered appropriately to their respective folders.

 

But guess what?...even though I've never used my ISP provided e-mail address... Never Sent, E-mail from it...Never used it to sign-up at any site...nor verbally / non-verbally gave it to anyone...."I Still Get SPAM sent to that E-Mail address"...And have since I was "required" to have it in order to get service over 3 years ago.

 

So...here is an e-mail address..that was "NEVER USED"...yet still gets SPAM.

 

SO...as mentioned by many in this thread...there are thousands of ways for your e-mail address finds it's way into a spammers database.

 

Perhaps the other possibilities should have been researched further before posting the question. 

 

The title of this thread, even though phrased as a question, is a bit "Sensationalistic" IMHO.

 

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”