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scams
A man who spammed 1.2 million AOL customers was sentenced to 30 months in prison yesterday. Now how will we ever find out how to make bigger p3nz? Oh wait, here comes another spam... [CNN Money]
follow ups
Feazel Roofing Responds To Misleading Junk Mail Accusations
Last week, we wrote about a roofing company that had sent out a "Defective Roof Notice" to potential customers. The blogger who received the junk mail thought it was deceptive, and so did we. To make matters worse, he wrote a complaint to the company and was ignored—but a few weeks later a fake "customer review" appeared on his site that was traced back to Feazel. Now the owner of Feazel Roofing has responded and apologized for the junk mail:
More »Obviously, the real message got lost in “sales language” – the piece went way overboard, and I should not have allowed it. Therefore, it was my mistake, and I sincerely apologize.
how to
Block Text Message Spam
If you've ever received cell phone spam, you know how infuriating it can be—especially if you pay by the message. David Pogue of the New York Times recently got hit with a spate of junk text messages on his Verizon plan, and he figured out how to block most of them. If you're with AT&T or Verizon you can block any messages sent through the Internet, as well as change your text message address to an alias to thwart number-guessing spammers. Sprint will let you block specific addresses. T-Mobile lets you block email messages and set up filters based on specific phrases. Login info below. More »
scams
Roofing Co Sends Misleading"Class Action" Junk Mail, Fakes Customer Reviews Online
Update: The owner of Feazel Roofing has responded and apologized for the misleading nature of the junk mail.Blogger HolyJuan was annoyed with a piece of junk mail he received from Feazel Roofing, because it was written in such a way that it could (intentionally) mislead homeowners into thinking the roof inspection being offered was somehow official, required, or necessary. In fact, it was simply an attempt to drum up new business for the company—but when you lead off with "DEFECTIVE ROOF NOTICE" and then mention class action lawsuits in the first paragraph, it's hard to claim marketing innocence. HolyJuan complained about the letter on his blog, and a few weeks later an anonymous "customer" posted a rebuttal full of praise for Feazel Roofing—from the IP address of the company, naturally. More »
groceries
As Food Costs Rise, People Are Buying More Ramen and...Spam?
The Associated Press is saying that rising food costs are driving people to buy more Spam, despite the fact that the Spam itself is more expensive. Are you really doing this? More »
junk mail
It's Illegal To Stick Unstamped Flyers In Mailboxes, But The Post Office Doesn't Care
Section 1725 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code prohibits placing mailable materials like circulars and sales bills with unpaid postage in mailboxes with intent to avoid payment of postage. That means that the Chinese menus and offers for cheap lube jobs that end up in your mailbox might have been placed there illegally. One reader whose mailbox was clogged with this junk contacted the USPS to report the businesses. Her story, and the post office's ambivalence, inside. More »
spam
1-800PetMeds' Relentless Spam Email Makes Your Mother Cry
Consumerist Forums moderator Brian is moderating a problem of his own. His mother, who is mourning the recent loss of their dog Mandy, is receiving a relentless flood of spam email from 1-800 PetMeds with titles such as: "Take Mandy on a picnic this Memorial Day Weekend!" and "Summer showers are around the corner, make sure Mandy is dressed properly!" Considering the fact that Mandy passed only a few days before, the emails are causing Brian's mother a great amount of grief and tears. He has set up email filters to block the email, but like an intelligent virus the email changes its signature to bypass the filters. Unfortunately, he cannot simply filter the word "Mandy" because his mother is still sending and receiving email regarding her demise. His letter, inside... More »
text messaging
Verizon Won't Help You Filter Out SMS Spam Because It Makes Them Money
Why can't people set up filters to turn off unwanted spam text messages, especially when they're sent by unknown parties to a phone number that's never been (knowingly) listed by the owner? Maybe it's because Verizon gets to charge you 20 cents per message, suggests this reader who can't figure out why her grandfather's mobile number suddenly became a spam magnet after switching to a new Verizon phone. More »
privacy
Should The Government Set Up A "Do-Not-Track" List?
One of the most popular sentiments expressed by readers on our blog is "be a smart consumer." Now two privacy advocacy organizations are calling for the creation of a "do-not-track" list that would protect registered users from online data collection. They argue that a list is needed because too many consumers won't or can't understand the methods behind online tracking. To illustrate, one of the organizations "pointed to a 2005 University of Pennsylvania survey in which only 25 percent of respondents knew that a Web site having a privacy policy doesn't guarantee that the site refrains from sharing customers' information with companies." But a do-not-track list is overkill, and a fearful reaction against emerging technologies. More »
spam
Reunion.com Will Scrape Your Address Book, Then Spam Your Contacts
Reunion.com dupes new members into signing up by sending them an email that pretends to be from an acquaintance who's been looking for them (on Reunion.com, naturally). After signing up, the site sucks in your contacts and immediately begins spamming them to join by sending out a similar email. If one of those people then signs up at Reunion.com, their contact list is scooped up and the cycle starts all over again, like a social engineering version of a virus or parasitic infestation. Maybe this is why Reunion.com can claim to register about 1 million new members every month. More »
spam
Conde Nast Will Never Stop Emailing You. Never. Stop Asking.
Condé Nast marketing department, are you on crack? Have you put some trinket from "The Hills" in charge of your mail server? Justin has emailed you repeatedly to tell you to stop spamming him. His marketing preferences on your site show a vast field of "No" for every single title on your list. And yet he's received 16 emails since his last request—almost three a month. You should know better—or, as Justin puts it, "This isn't some Nigerian guy trying to make my penis larger or send me money, this is a company here, in the United States, that I know should be held accountable." More »
spam
Peachtree Doesn't Believe You Really Wanted Off Their Mailing List
Peachtree must have a hard time keeping people on their email lists if they have to resort to this. Reader Chris writes:I registered my Peachtree accounting software, and started receiving e-mails from them. I unsubscribed, and thought I was done. Today, a few weeks later, I received this e-mail: Please re-confirm your opt-out status...More »
Want to reduce your Bank of America spam mail? Our commenter tinder posted a link to their opt-out page in our earlier post on Chase spam. [www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/]
spam
How To Get Chase To Stop Sending You Direct Mail Offers Over And Over And Over
Anyone who's a customer of Chase knows how hardcore they can be about direct mail advertising. Martin writes:Over the last 12-24 months, I've been annoyed with about 3-4 mailings a week from Chase for various add-on services and useless products. Already a customer of theirs, I did not appreciate this onslaught of advertising. Here's a quick opt-out website in which you can cancel all direct marketing letters from Chase... dnmoptions.chase.com.More »
A group of seven advertising companies successfully txt spammed half of China. [Forbes]
justice
"Free iPod" Claims Cost Spammer $2.9 Million
The FTC slammed nuisance advertiser ValueClick with a record-breaking $2.9 million fine for littering the internet with deceptive ads for free iPods, PS3s, and plasma TVs. Instead of providing freebies, ValueClick tricked people into signing up for useless services and then failed to safeguard their personal information. More »
scams
Phishers Target Google Calendars
Phishers have a new target: your Google Calendar. Nigerian-419-type scammers are spamming sending their messages as meeting invites on people's Google's Calendars. This happened to me a few days ago. One way to combat it is to change the "Automatically Add Invites To My Calendar" setting from Yes to No.
BitDefender Finds Spammers are Leveraging Google Applications [via The Raw Feed]
