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Dropbox users get spammed via personal e-mail accounts

Some European users of the online file storage service are receiving junk e-mail from online casinos -- this may be due to a Dropbox address leak or some type of malware.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
2 min read

David P. was the first Dropbox user to post on the company's Web site forum titled "Email-Address leaked from Dropbox" yesterday. He wrote that he received spam from an email address he uses only for Dropbox.

"So I guess you have a security problem with your user account data," he wrote. "And this sucks a lot."

As of this writing, there are now 106 posts in the forum of people complaining of receiving e-mail spam from online casinos and gambling sites via the online file storage service. The majority of the users are European, coming from Germany, Holland, and the U.K.

The junk mail these users are getting could be associated with a Dropbox e-mail leak, but it could also be the result of a spambot randomly trying out addresses at several mail servers to see if it gets a hit or a Dropbox integrated third-party app that leaked the addresses.

According to TechCrunch, Dropbox issued this statement earlier today:

We're aware that some Dropbox users have been receiving spam to email addresses associated with their Dropbox accounts. Our top priority is investigating this issue thoroughly and updating you as soon as we can. We know it's frustrating not to get an update with more details sooner, but please bear with us as our investigation continues.

CNET contacted Dropbox for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.