outreach agent emailed a work address scraped from a page - the company mail server rejected it and flagged the domain

TL;DR

Stop emailing scraped work addresses and restrict outreach to addresses with a consent or legitimate-relationship basis, sourced from opt-in channels. Scraped corporate addresses bounce, get reported, and trigger server-level blocks that flag your whole domain. Suppress the scraped addresses and rebuild the list from clean sources.

The error

Outreach to a work address scraped from a web page - the company mail server rejected the message and flagged the sending domain

Steps

1. Stop the campaign and suppress every scraped corporate address in the list. Expected: no further sends to addresses taken from web pages.

2. Check whether the domain is flagged or listed anywhere as a result, and remediate before resuming. Expected: you know the current reputation state of the domain.

3. Rebuild the sourcing rules: only addresses that came through an opt-in, a prior conversation, or a legitimate recruiting relationship. Expected: the agent's sourcing policy is written down and enforced in code.

4. Add a source check to the agent: every address must carry a source tag, and untagged or scraped addresses are blocked from sending. Expected: a dry run rejects scraped addresses before any mail is composed.

5. For company outreach, use public inquiry channels or the candidate's stated preferred contact instead of scraped personal work emails. Expected: outreach reaches people through channels they chose.

Use this when

• An agent scrapes or guesses email addresses for outreach
• Corporate mail servers reject or flag your domain
• You are setting sourcing policy for a recruiting agent

Not for this skill when

• The addresses are opted-in and the problem is content or volume (fix the campaign, not the source)
• The rejection is one company's aggressive filter (check that company's postmaster guidance)
• You have a prior relationship with the recipient (document the basis and keep it)

Variant phrasings

• scraped work email got our domain flagged
• company mail server rejected cold outreach
• is it okay to email scraped corporate addresses
• outreach domain flagged after emailing scraped addresses

Why it happens

Corporate mail servers run aggressive inbound filtering, and unsolicited mail to scraped addresses generates bounces, spam-trap hits, and admin reports. A scraped address has no consent behind it, so engagement is near zero and complaints are high: the exact pattern that gets a sending domain flagged at the server level.

Edge cases

• Role addresses are public but still low-engagement for recruiting outreach; treat them separately.
• Regional law restricts unsolicited B2B email in many jurisdictions; check before you send.
• Even opt-in lists decay; re-confirm addresses you have not mailed in a year.
• Document the lawful basis per list; finding an address online is not one.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_HnOXYOfiwsOL7keG4lOKDw