Consumerist
robocalls
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busted
Court Shanks Spammers With $3.7 Million Decision
These are already times for spammers,and it looks like things are getting even tougher, since a U.S. district court has ordered an international spam ring to cough up $3.7 million for filling your inbox with annoying messages, violating the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. More » -
crime and punishment
Spam Kings Plead Guilty, Are Headed To Prison
The war on spam is just as doomed as the war on drugs, but the FBI has won a battle, bringing down a bulk commercial e-mail ring that pimped Chinese penny stocks into unwilling inboxes. They also developed bot network that helped spam avoid detection. More » -
The New York Times takes a look at "contact scraping," which is when a website tricks you into providing access to your address book and then spams all of your friends by saying you asked them to join. Some of the offenders include Tagged.com, MyLife.com (formerly Reunion.com), and desktopdating.net. [New York Times]
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robocallers
Robocallers Cannot Magically Lower Your Credit Card Interest Rate
The Better Business Bureau and Senator Charles Schumer are warning the public to be skeptical of any calls promising to lower your credit card interest rate. While nowhere near at the public annoyance level of the recent car warranty robocaller scourge, they're still out there, automatically dialing people and promising to lower your rate for a hefty up-front fee. The only problem is, they can't do anything you can't do on your own, and unless you're crazy you're probably not going to charge yourself a thousand bucks for the service. More » -
can-spam
No, You Can't Opt Out Of Capital One's E-Mails, Ever
What's an account-related message from your company, and what's marketing? Kevin, the subject of this week's Red Tape Chronicles column, wants to know, because he'd like Capital One to stop sending him advertisements for their products. Capital One claims that he can't opt out, since the marketing pitches are "account management communications." Right. More » -
e-mail harvesting
Tagged.com Will Spam Your Friends And Family
Tagged.com has been around for a few years now, but it's spread across the Internet with a vengeance in the last few weeks. The service promotes itself by getting inside the address book or e-mail contacts of people who sign up and e-mailing everyone they know. It's disingenuous, since the e-mail looks like an invitation from your friend or family member...but they didn't initiate it at all.
Let this serve as a warning: don't sign up with tagged.com, and warn anyone in your life who you think may be susceptible to this kind of scam. More »
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spam eggs sausage and spam
Spam Starts New Ad Campaign Today - Not Via Unsolicited E-mail
Spam. It's cheap, it's versatile, and I've been told that some people even find it edible. Sales of all canned food, including canned meat, are up in the recession, and Hormel's new strategy is to promote Spam as something different for people to rotate into their monotonous meal plans. More » -
The car warranty robocalls may have ground to a halt, but are you still besieged by credit card and home mortgage scam robocalls? Don't worry. Ever-vigilant Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is on the case, asking the federal government to intervene.
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scams
Nigerian Advance Fee Scams Become Only Slightly More Plausible
Good news, everyone! The advance fee fraud scammers of Nigeria have decided to stop fussing with old-fashioned checks and wire transfers, and have switched to an advanced new technology. They're called "ATM cards." Shiny! More » -
annoyances
Reader Asks, "Is It Impossible To Unsubscribe From Classmates.com?"
Yes.
Okay, we're being a little dramatic there, but Classmates.com is part of the cesspool of the Internet, a faux-legit site that uses any shady tactic it can to acquire and keep members, regardless of any genuine interest they may have in the service. We don't know if you can truly successfully unsubscribe from their junk emails because we're not sure they'd ever honor such a request, but here are two other options. More »
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coupons
Sears Pays $10 In Coupons For Your Email Address
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. More » -
about to expire
FTC To Investigate Car Warranty Robocallers
You knew it was imminent: after the "your car warranty is about to expire" robocallers pissed off the internet and the government within a matter of days, it was just a question of who would take them down first. Surprisingly, it looks like it's going to be the government. More » -
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spam
Create Your Own Opt-Out When A Company Ignores Your Requests
Mark started getting promotional emails from Hilton over a year ago, and he's tried all sorts of opt-out strategies:
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please make it stop
Man Receives 16 State Farm Junk Mailings In One Month
State Farm is powerless to stop its representatives from filling up your mailbox with unwanted solicitations! Terry has contacted one of the agents listed in the 16 mailings he's received over the past month and was told, "Sorry, it's from corporate." He then lodged a complaint with the corporate office and received a response from their "Internet Support Representative" who basically told him he's out of luck. We're not sure what State Farm's sales strategy is here; maybe they're just betting on wearing him down through sheer volume? More » -
scams
Watch Out For Scammy Swine Flu Email, Websites
How can you tell you've made it on the Internet? How about if you're turned into spambait? MSN Money reports that scammers are taking advantage of the sudden interest in swine flu by using it in subject lines to get people to open messages and download attachments. Don't do it! Tell your friends and relatives not to do it, either! More » -
car warranties
Here Are Some Of The Companies Behind The Car Warranty Robocalls
Verizon continues its recent campaign of turning robocallers into charitable contributions, this time by settling a lawsuit against two of the companies behind those awful car warranty calls. Last time it was for $25,000; this time it's for $50,000, all of which is being donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which Wireless Week describes as "a nonprofit devoted to empowering survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse." More » -
microsoft
Microsoft E-mails You as a Reminder That You Opted Out of Receiving E-mails
Taking a page from the grossly overpriced playbook of Barnes & Noble college bookstores, earlier this week MIcrosoft sent an e-mail to users of the myriad Windows Live and MSN services reminding them that they...had opted not to receive e-mail from Microsoft. Um, thanks? More »
