Wildcard google-search to find email addresses of company?

In summary: I'm not trying to write them a letter. I'm trying to contact them so they can see my appreciation for their work.
  • #1
B0b-A
155
32
Is it possible to do a wildcard google-search to show all the email addresses in a company ?

If I know an email address exists like ... john.smith@123company.com

Is there some way of doing a wildcard google-search which will list all emails ... *@123company.com

where * = wildcard.

Google-searches seem to ignore the "@" symbol, if so then such a search is impossible via google :¬(

[ NB: the company concerned is uncooperative , asking nicely for a email address of their PR department got no response .
I know that they do have a PR person, and their name , but their email-address is apparently top-secret ].
 
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  • #2
are you planning on spamming them or what ? Surely if you have a legitimate reason for wanting the list it would be made available to you. Most companies do not want their email lists going out because then their people start getting poached by recuriters, attacked by phishing scams, and so forth.
 
  • #3
If the company doesn't want you to have access to their PR department, then I would suggest to back off. Maybe they don't have a PR department. What are you trying to contact them about? We certainly will not assist you in harassing them.
 
  • #4
phinds said:
are you planning on spamming them or what ?
Not spamming . I know the PR person's name , just not their email address.
If presented with a list of all the email addresses of the company, theirs should be identifiable by their name.
[ I've already tried google-searching variants of their name with "@123company.com" , but no hits ].

phinds said:
Surely if you have a legitimate reason for wanting the list it would be made available to you.

Like many internet-only companies , (e.g. YouTube) , their organisation is hermetically-sealed for efficiency.
What email addresses exist reply with automated responses, the emails sent never having been read.
 
  • #5
Evo said:
Maybe they don't have a PR department.
They do have a "Public Relations Manager" , I have their name from interviews they have given to the press.

Evo said:
What are you trying to contact them about? We certainly will not assist you in harassing them.
If I could contact this PR person they would be eternally grateful to me :
They are currently unaware a professional-fraudster is using their website to scam money from the public.
If not interrupted this scam is only going to bring in a six-figure-sum , they've done better :
their last scam netted a seven-figure-sum.
 
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  • #6
B0b-A said:
If I could contact this PR person they would be eternally grateful to me :
They are currently unaware a professional-fraudster is using their website to scam money from the public.
If not interrupted this scam is only going to bring in a six-figure-sum , they've done better :
their last scam netted a seven-figure-sum.
And what, you've never heard of telephones? They don't HAVE a telephone? You can't write them a letter? Why do you need ALL of the email addresses? This sounds very fishy to me.
 
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  • #7
B0b-A said:
Is it possible to do a wildcard google-search to show all the email addresses in a company ?

Google can only see publicly available information, so if a company chooses not to make their email directory public, Google won't find it for you.
 
  • #8
If the company has a website, they probably have a link "Contact Us".
 
  • #9
Trying to find all eddresses* in a company is bad. Do not do.

Many companies will make it hard to reach them (otherwise they would be inundated with tens of thousands of emails a day), but enough digging around can eventually turn up a 'contact us' eddress* or phone number.

You could always do a 'who is' lookup on the company. That should turn up at least one eddress*.

*© DC 2015
 
  • #10
DaveC426913 said:
Many companies will make it hard to reach them (otherwise they would be inundated with tens of thousands of emails a day), but enough digging around can eventually turn up a 'contact us' eddress* or phone number.
You could always do a 'who is' lookup on the company. That should turn up at least one eddress*.
*© DC 2015

The 'contact us' is "support@ ..." , messages sent to this receive an automated response within a very few minutes , never having been seen by human eyes.

The 'who is' search gives a similar "support@ ..." but from which there is no reply.

I'm trying to contact a Pubic Relations person , I'm not trying to do anything illegal.
phinds said:
And what, you've never heard of telephones? They don't HAVE a telephone?
In the interview I read about this PR person, the reporter said the PR person would not communicate over the telephone , only by email. [ Before you ask, I contacted the reporter , who only had the generic "support@..." email address ].

phinds said:
You can't write them a letter?

The fraud is currently pulling-in several thousand dollars per day over the internet , sending a airmail letter could take a week , there's easily a five figure saving if I can find an email address which could enable contact in a few minutes.

phinds said:
Why do you need ALL of the email addresses? This sounds very fishy to me.

I don't need all of them , just one , a list of all of them , which I guesstimate would be less than 100 , would enable me to find the PR one I want.
 
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  • #11
B0b-A said:
The 'who is' search gives a similar "support@ ..." but from which there is no reply.
I guess they don't consider it a high priority. They may already be aware of it.

I grant it doesn't speak well of their customer relations if they don't at least follow up with a quick thank you.

B0b-A said:
I'm trying to contact a Pubic Relations person , I'm not trying to do anything illegal.
You intent may not be illegal, but your suggested method would be highly unethical. I'm sure you didn't intend to be, but that's why you're getting this feedback.;)
 
  • #12
So you figure if you called the company's switchboard and told them they are being used that way, they would just ignore you but if you can get an email to a particular HR person and no one else, for some reason, they will not ignore you. This whole thread continues to smell fishy to me.
 
  • #13
phinds said:
... a particular HR person ...
PR. Slightly different.;)

But point made.
 
  • #14
B0b-A said:
What email addresses exist reply with automated responses, the emails sent never having been read.
To be clear, you do not know this. All you know is that they have not responded.

I sympathize with your plight. I often try to contact companies. But if they don't want to send a thank you, there's no a lot you can do.
 
  • #15
DaveC426913 said:
To be clear, you do not know this ...
I know the response email is returned in less time than it would have taken to read the email sent , and I know that response emails are all the same. [ It's a cost-effective automated-process : no expensive humans involved ].
 
  • #16
B0b-A said:
I know the response email is returned in less time than it would have taken to read the email sent , and I know that response emails are all the same.
I am not denying that it is an automated response; it most certainly is. I'm simply saying an automated response does not in any way mean it hasn't been seen (albeit within a more human time frame).

It is common practice today for companies to send an immediate automated response to queries, and then follow up within a certain timeline with a human response. All that's happened is that you haven't reached the end of the human timeline for responding.

How long have you been waiting?

Also, did you state the problem in your email? Did you list the offending website?
 
  • #17
Dave, thanks for letting me know about that "leave conversation" thing. Didn't know it was there / never had occasion to use it.
 
  • #18
I mention this with mixed feelings. But it's not at all difficult to write code that goes around harvesting email addresses off of websites. It's called a bot (for "robot"). Students have done it. And sensible people, these days, deliberately avoid putting their emails directly into web pages; they use Javascript (just for example) to render emails in browsers. However, millions of naive people still put their personal emails onto web pages where bots can harvest them.

Writing a bot to harvest emails is considered very impolite but it is not technically illegal. Using the harvested emails to spam people is (probably) illegal, or at least, could get you into trouble.

Anyway, if you use a bot, you could do this. I don't recommend doing this. It could bring your ISP down on your as a bad netizen, just for example. Nothing you do on the internet is private anymore, if it ever was.
 
  • #19
B0b-A said:
The fraud is currently pulling-in several thousand dollars per day over the internet , sending a airmail letter could take a week , there's easily a five figure saving if I can find an email address which could enable contact in a few minutes.

Post it on Twitter. With any luck, a lot of other people will jump on it, it will start trending, and the company will have to respond to it. :oldeyes:
 
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1. How can I use wildcard google-search to find email addresses of a specific company?

To use wildcard google-search to find email addresses of a specific company, you can type in the company name followed by the "@" symbol and a wildcard character, such as an asterisk (*). For example, "companyname *@*". This will bring up any email addresses associated with that company's domain.

2. Can I use wildcard google-search to find email addresses of multiple companies at once?

Yes, you can use the wildcard google-search method mentioned above to find email addresses of multiple companies at once. Simply separate each company name with the OR operator (|) and include the "@" and wildcard character. For example, "company1 *@* | company2 *@* | company3 *@*".

3. Is wildcard google-search a reliable way to find email addresses of a company?

It can be a useful tool for finding email addresses of a company, but it may not always be reliable. This method relies on the company's email addresses being publicly available on the internet. If the company has strict privacy policies or does not have their email addresses listed online, this method may not work.

4. Are there any other ways to find email addresses of a company besides using wildcard google-search?

Yes, there are a few other ways to find email addresses of a company. You can try searching for the company's contact page or staff directory on their website. You can also use social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, to find email addresses of specific employees within the company.

5. Can I use wildcard google-search to find email addresses of companies in a specific location?

Yes, you can add a location to your wildcard search to find email addresses of companies in a specific location. For example, "company *@* location". This will bring up any email addresses associated with that company's domain in the specified location.

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