Ukraine: Spam website set up to reach millions of Russians

A Norwegian computer expert has created a website that allows anyone to send an email about the war in Ukraine to up to 150 Russian email addresses at once, so that Russians have a chance to hear the truth that their government is hiding.

Everywhere in Russia, email inboxes are ringing.

Millions of messages are being received with the same intriguing subject. Ya vam ne vrag – I’m not your enemy.

The message appears in Russian with an English translation and begins: “Dear friend, I am writing to express my concern for the safe future of our children on this planet. Most of the world has condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.” .

The lengthy email goes on to implore the Russian people to reject the war in Ukraine and seek the truth about the invasion from non-state news services.

In just a few days, more than 22 million of these emails have landed in Russian inboxes and are being sent by volunteers from around the world, who are donating their time and email addresses to the cause.

It’s one of many unusual ways hackers, activists, and people around the world are trying to communicate with Russians online to get around media blockades and censorship. A Polish Twitter user idea to post reviews talk about the war on Russian companies in Google and Yandex went viral.

Elsewhere, hacking groups claim to have defaced Russian news websites with messages to the Russian people to “stop Putin.”

But the spam email campaign created by a small team in Norway appears to have captured the imagination of thousands of people looking for ways to help Russians learn about the war.

“During WWII, and in previous wars, people were flying over Germany with leaflets and dropping them. This is just a more modern way of trying to get people to open their eyes,” says Fabian, who came up with the idea. .

The 50-year-old Norwegian, who runs a computer networking business, does not want his last name published for fear of reprisals from Russian authorities. He says that he felt compelled to do something after becoming increasingly anxious about the possibility of World War III.

His website, which the BBC does not name, is circumventing Russian censorship through a combination of intelligent computing and people power. The system allows people to send their templated message to dozens of Russian email addresses at once, and estimates that tens of thousands of volunteers have done so since the website launched.

Fabian built it with five colleagues, who worked flat out last weekend to finish the job. They began by scouring the Internet for known Russian email addresses and compiled a list of 90 million accounts they believe to be active. He says the strength of the system lies in getting volunteers to use their own email accounts rather than mass mailing email addresses using spam software.

Users can choose to contact from one to 150 Russian people. Then, with one click, the volunteer’s default email client (Outlook or Gmail, for example) is loaded with the unique email addresses, subject, and body text ready to send.

People can also personalize content to increase the chances of their email being read.

There are two reasons, Fabian says, for using people’s personal email accounts: Emails go through spam filters if they’re sent from real accounts and in small numbers.

“But also, people can get answers from the Russians and interact with them and have conversations about the war.”

Fabian says that some accounts will be less active than others, and in some cases, the email may end up in the spam folder. But many of the messages are being read, he says, and some Russians are responding.

Alex, also in Norway, was asked by Fabian’s team to test the system, but he has continued to send emails ever since.

“I’ve sent around 500 emails so far and got around 20 responses in a day, so I’m looking forward to more,” he says. “Most of the responses are people asking me to remove them from my mailing list, but I spoke to a 35-year-old woman from St. Petersburg. She told me she wasn’t sure what was going on in the conflict and wanted to know more.” He said there was a lack of news coming from Europe and he wanted to read about everything, but he didn’t know how to get past the website blocks.”

Alex then explained how he could bypass Russia’s internet blockades.

“I think I have a friend in her now!” he says.

Another 18-year-old volunteer shared the response she received from an unknown Russian. The message strongly argued that she was wrong and that it was Ukraine that was killing innocent people, so “this special operation is a necessary measure.”

Fabian says his team constantly modifies the text and subject line of his email template to evade spam filters and hopes that many of the 90 million email addresses will eventually get the message. If they run out of emails to test, he says the team will find more.

They have also had to fend off attacks from unknown hackers trying to take down the site.

Fabián argues that what he is doing “is not propaganda.” When asked how he feels about spamming millions of people, he replies that the intrusion is justified because the stakes are high.

Are you putting unsuspecting recipients at risk?

“You can’t charge the recipient of the email. They received our email without being able to consent, so it’s like inadvertently receiving a brochure. It’s literally a war. You have to stand up for what you believe in.” And I believe in this.”