David is a little confused. First, because received a Comcast bill for two months of service, even though he already submitted a payment. Second, because some denizen of Kabletown has started turning ordinary customer service e-mails in to Mad Libs. Or spell check has gone horribly awry. Or…actually, we’re not quite sure what’s going on here. [More]
BofA: Let Us Email You Disclosures Or Get The Hell Out
By October 1, 2010
In a shift that can be rationalized as environmentally friendly, Bank of America is telling customers that they must agree to receive disclosures, notifications, statements and bills via e-mail if they want to continue using online banking. [More]
Watch Out For Amazon Scam Making The Rounds
By July 20, 2010
The BBB says people are reporting seeing a new phishing scam going around that masquerades as an Amazon order alert. It arrives as a confirmation email with a product description, price, and Amazon logo. Naturally, if you click the provided account link to cancel the order or see whether you were actually charged for the item, the login screen you’ll be taken to won’t be Amazon. [More]
Johnson & Johnson Hired Fake Shoppers To Buy Up Bad Motrin, Avoid Public Recall
By June 14, 2010
Ever since the FDA and Congress started asking Johnson & Johnson to explain why it keeps recalling medicine, there have been references to an unpublicized “recall” that happened in November 2008. Last month, at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a J&J executive swore that the company didn’t mean to mislead anyone. It turns out that wasn’t exactly accurate: Bloomberg has obtained emails from J&J’s company, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, that show executives knew the secret recall would trigger an FDA reaction if the agency got wind of its full scope. [More]
I Am Liberal And Employed, But Republicans And Job Sites Won't Stop Spamming Me
By March 4, 2010
In a funny blog post, Nicole goes into a rant about how she can’t stop certain organizations from spamming her no matter what she tries, name dropping Monster.com and the Republican Party in particular. [More]
Here's A Simple Flowchart To Help Thwart Phishing Attacks
By February 12, 2010
I like flowcharts because they appeal to the part of me that wants to be a robot. I also like them because they make multi-step decision paths incredibly simple to follow, even if you don’t have a lot of insight into the big picture. This flowchart from LoginHelper.com will help even your PowerPoint-slideshow-forwarding relative (yes, that one) shoot down phishers as soon as they hit the In Box. [More]
Radio Shack Celebrates Purchase Anniversary With E-mail
By January 3, 2010
Brad discovered that Radio Shack is much more thoughtful than he had ever imagined. They very thoughtfully sent him an e-mail to celebrate the anniversary of his last purchase. Or maybe they’re just having problems with their e-mail notification system. [More]
H1N1 Phishing Email Making The Rounds
By December 4, 2009
The Centers for Disease Control have issued a warning that there’s a new, swine flu-themed phishing email going around. It says something about an imaginary State Vaccination H1N1 Program, and asks you to create an account on the cdc.gov website–and if you click the link, malicious code may be installed on your system. Obviously you have brain worms if you fall for this. [More]
Staples Wants To Know If They're Freaking You Out With Their All-Knowing Emails
By November 10, 2009
Apparently Staples is worried that their emails might be too accurate when it comes to marketing office supplies to people—accurate enough to make potential customers paranoid.
Guy Who Invented Spider Currency Wrote Fake McDonalds Memo
By October 15, 2009
This will probably come as a surprise to no one, but the fake McDonalds memo that went viral last month was written by David Thorne, the same guy who tried to pay for a bill with a drawing of a spider. He is a very silly man.
Scammers Get Over-Ambitious With Fake FBI Letter
By August 20, 2009
We guess if you’re gonna create a failure pile, make it a big one. This email that pretends to be from FBI director Robert S. Mueller has the typical scammy touches: strange grammatical issues, unexpected shifts between formal and casual voices, a complete lack of understanding of how US government offices actually work, and an “official” gmail address. We were ready to send our information to them until we got to the end, where the letter threatens you with arrest if you don’t play along. Now they’re just getting silly.
Company Apologizes, Hilariously, For Mail Merge Screwup
By July 29, 2009
Everyone knows that the “personal touch” of using your name in an email, printed letter, or CSR call is powered by a database and a computer, and not really personal at all. Still, when a company gets it wrong it can be annoying. When a company gets it wrong, then apologizes by sending a follow-up message that makes you smile, all can be forgiven.
RadioShack Will Say Anything To Upsell Extended Warranties
By July 19, 2009
An anonymous RadioShack employee sent us what he considers unethical talking points distributed by the corporate office to help employees upsell the RadioShack Replacement Service Plan. According to our tipster, “each example encourages lying.” Read the deceptive talking points, inside…
Urban Expressions Craft Store Calls Customer A Whore
By July 17, 2009
The only thing crazier than people involved with wedding planning are people in the scrapbooking supply industry, it seems. Weddingbee reports that an online craft supply store called Urban Expressions (not to be confused with the handbag company) completely lost it when an angry customer wrote in asking why they had neither shipped the item she’d bought nor specified otherwise as promised. Their response makes us understand why they chose the name “Urban Expressions” for their store.
Edmund Scientific Jacks Up Price After Shopper Authorizes Payment
By June 18, 2009
Edmund Scientific has contacted me and offered to refund the $13 difference. Although they did lay some of the blame on me for clicking the link they have also said this has been a recurring problem that they will look into further.
American Express Keeps Emailing Sensitive Customer Info To A Random Stranger
By June 8, 2009
We’re starting to think Amex doesn’t take this whole “data security” thing very seriously. First they confused a customer, and us, a few months ago with their random confirmation phone call, where they demanded a customer turn over bank account information over the phone without giving him a way to verify they were really Amex. Now a reader says the company has “for years” been sending him someone else’s account info via email, including the customer’s name and the last 5 digits of his account number. J.R. writes, “Seriously, I’ve seen better security on a video game forum.”
Sears Pays $10 In Coupons For Your Email Address
By May 19, 2009
Max wants to know why he hasn’t received the $10 gift certificate that the cashier at Sears promised him for turning over an email address to receive marketing messages. We contacted Sears and found out what’s actually going on.
Here's A Phishing Site Disguised To Trick Wells Fargo Customers
By May 13, 2009
Freddie writes that his friend was tricked by a phishing email. All the warning signs were there to tip off his friend—an email saying he needed to click a link, a suspicious url, a page asking for his login info—but he clicked and entered the info anyway. Please do not be like Freddie’s friend, who is now probably on the phone with the real Wells Fargo trying to get his account number changed.
