Typo trap
A spam trap built on a common misspelling, usually of a domain such as gmial.com, which catches senders who never confirm the addresses they collect.
What it means
M3AAWG describes typo traps as addresses containing an intentional and perhaps common typing error, most often in the domain part (its examples include user@gmial.com and user@notmail.com). A hit usually means the sender never confirmed the address, and can come from transcription or scanning errors when the address was collected, for example at a point of sale.
Technically a typo trap may be pristine, but many operators classify typo traps separately because senders can pick them up through otherwise legitimate collection.
The defences are the same as for typos in general: validate the address as it is entered and prompt the person to re-enter it if validation fails, as M3AAWG recommends, and use confirmed opt-in so an address only joins the list after its owner clicks.
Related terms
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Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes