Think emails critical of AOL are the only ones that are being caught in AOL’s spam guard “software glitch?” Think again. We found this account from an ISP about trying to deal with AOL’s incompetent customer service and tech support.
spam
Nu Txt Msg Scm
By 4.18.06
We received two complaints today from Elizabeth and Melba who received a a new text message spam/scam.
AOL Denies Censoring DearAOL
By 4.17.06
AOL has predictably denied blocking emails that mentioned DearAOL.com. Instead, they have described it under the handy bugbear of being a “software glitch” that affected “over 50 sites with no commonality.” A list of the sites affected was not released, so, you know, we’ll just have to take their word for it.
UPDATE: Secret Spam Message!
By 4.11.06
Hey, remember that “spam from the future” we told you about last week? The message contained is so powerful, so advanced… it crashes Thunderbird, our email program. All day long, Thunderbird crashed through the canopy, over and over again, cracking goose eggs like our skull banging on the desk as we futilely attempted to mine the tip line.
Secret Message!
By 4.7.06
We’ve received notice from an advanced civilization. They communicate only through seldom used ASCII symbols.
Exciting News from the World of Spam
By 4.6.06
Move over Flinstone’s, there’s a new chewable in town and it ain’t for kids.
Spitzer Sues FreeiPods.com, Spinners of Spam Dreams
By 3.24.06
You already knew all those WinAFreeIpod.coms were scams. Now the People’s Champion, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, knows and he’s suing one of the companies behind it, Gratis Internet.
Yahoo and AOL to Charge Companies To Spam You
By 2.6.06
As if you didn’t already get enough Spam, AOL and Yahoo are going to start charing companies to allow them to bypass your spam filter:
Does Gary Coxe Need More Self-Self-Help?
By 1.21.06
Haven’t had enough of Gary Coxe, self-help superstar? This anonymous tipster writes to tell us exactly how successful Gary’s amazing program has been for Coxe himself:
The helicopter Gary is standing behind is not even his. He leases it!
Spam: White Dude Had It Rough, Wants To Show You His Helicopter
By 1.12.06
– he truly walks his talk.
We’d link you to his website but it’s full of popups. Besides, if you really want to learn about this, you’ll pick yourself up by your bootstraps and fight through gale force winds filled with snakes surfing on shards of glass to kill the men who stand between you and a Google text entry box.
ISP Wins $11bn Lawsuit Against Spammer
By 1.5.06
tips@consumerist.com gets a lot of email. A small percentage of it is made up of much coveted submissions from you, our beloved readers. We adore these. They allow us to get paid without the drudgery of actually having to find exciting new Consumerist “scoops” ourselves. So thanks for that, guys. Unfortunately, the much larger percentage of our email comes from Eastern European girls we have never met making presumptuous statements about our potency or – worse yet – phallic circumference. Spammers or friends of ex-girlfriends, in other words. But usually spammers.
Gamefly’s Post-Sale Coupon Cruft
By 12.27.05
Reader Greg B. writes:
Wanted to point out a bad experience I had yesterday with the Gamefly deal; [A sale we had linked to – Ed.] not the deal itself but a link they post after it which harvests all of your personal info from Gamefly (including credit card details I think) by simply submitting any e-mail address. You do get a 10 buck coupon but ugh man, I promise you my mailbox is going to be friggen’ overflowing with junk next month – this site was all sorts of sketch.
Shophackery: Filter Online Shopping Email with Gmail
By 12.22.05
Here’s a cool bit of shophackery: If you append a descriptor to the end of your Gmail name—say, consumerist+shopping@gmail.com, instead of consumerist@gmail.com—you can then add a filter to Gmail to catch all those emails. That allows you to filter out your potentially spammy online shopping mail using the same account.
Dumb Scam Artists: Xbox 360s in Bulk
By 12.7.05
When we saw a comment on another blog asking us to email mobilephonedealer01@yahoo.com to find out about buying Xbox 360s in lots of ten, we dropped him a line. You know, might as well. Here was Adam Cigly’s reply:
We are selling the xbox 360 for just $180USD ,these are all unlocked brand new xbox 360 and with 1year international warranty so for the shipping is within 48hours through FEDEX SHIPPING COMPANY which cost $60usd and the payment is thrugh western union money transfer ,do reply back with your full shipping address and your personal phone number ok thanks and God bless””””””””””’
See, they make it up in volume. And God bless you, too, Adam.
