Ask HN: Why does my waitlist form get spam?

3 pointsExxKA1 comment

I am launching a service to validate incoming pitch decks to your investment thesis, for VCs and Angel Investors.

On my landing page there's a form for signing up to a waitlist. As the page got online, I received a concentration of obviously fake names (duplicates), but with what looks to be real e-mail addresses.

Why do bots do this? What is the incentive?

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They'll auto-SPAM anything in the hopes that it gets them somewhere (like a forum) where they can do even more SPAMming, I think. A forum that I look after, even after lots of filtering, seems to get about 90% SPAMmers with made-up plausible big-name email-host addresses. (Requiring verification though those addresses stops those ones dead.)

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