Apparently the recent, and inexplicable, dropoff in worldwide spam levels represented some more experienced players getting out of the game. I got this spam yesterday that just very well may be the laziest financial lead-generation spam I’ve ever seen. Or it just could be the smartest. Take a look. [More]
spam
McDonald's E-Mail List Hacked
By 12.13.10
In a story not unlike last week’s hacking of the Walgreens promotional e-mail list, readers have been writing in to tell us about a notice they’ve received from the folks at McDonald’s. [More]
Walgreens E-Mail List Hacked
By 12.10.10
Several readers have written in today after receiving a message from Walgreens that one of its e-mail distribution lists had been hacked by spammers. [More]
Game Developer Says Farmville Is Designed To Be "Negative" And "Draining"
By 12.9.10
So-called social network games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are intentionally designed to not be fun and cause you anxiety, says a well-respected game developer. [More]
Russia Goes After 1 Guy, Worldwide Spam Drops By 1/5
By 10.28.10
After Russian authorities started an investigation into alleged spammaster Igor A. Gusev, worldwide spam has dropped by a sustained one-fifth. [More]
BofA: Let Us Email You Disclosures Or Get The Hell Out
By 10.1.10
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]
CAPTCHA Codes, Now With Ad Slogans
By 9.22.10
A company called Solve Media is rolling out a new CAPTCHA interface that requires you type in an ad slogan instead of a nonsense word, reports AdAge. Advertisers are looking for message comprehension,” says the company’s owner, “And you know what they say, ‘If you write something down, you remember it.'” And if you force a customer to repeat your slogan during an unrelated transaction, does he resent you for it? [More]
Consumer Group Launches Anti-Google Ad In Times Square, Keeps Google Analytics On Its Own Website
By 9.6.10
The group Consumer Watchdog is pushing hard for Congress to establish a “do not track” list for online consumers, which I’m all for. I’m not sure whether releasing a ridiculously unpleasant cartoon in Times Square is the right strategy, though–especially when you use the very service you’re warning people about. [More]
Neiman Marcus Won't Take Me Off Its Spam List
By 9.2.10
Henry has done seemingly everything possible to get Neiman Marcus to take him off its email list, but after several clicks on the “unsubscribe” link and a call to customer service, he’s still getting bombarded with useless emails. [More]
Are Retailers Suddenly Burying You In E-Mail?
By 7.23.10
Trance has a question for the Consumerist hive mind: Are you receiving more promotional e-mails than you were, say, a year ago? Not spam, but actual retailers that you want to hear from when they have a sale. Trance doesn’t have statistics for this, but thinks that she’s receiving more messages this year than last year, and has had to unsubscribe. [More]
Chipotle Is Hungry For More Junk Email
By 7.20.10
Last month Chipotle put out a call for customers to forward 500,000 junk email messages to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com, pledging to donate $50,000 to charity in return. Now the maker of foil-wrapped burritos has upped the ante, asking for another half million male enhancement and fake dating site queries in order to hike up its donation to $100,000. [More]
HP And Yahoo Want To Put Ads On Your Printouts
By 6.21.10
Google’s not the only company that wants to put ads on everything you read. HP’s new web-connected printers will let you send pages or photos directly from websites or phones and schedule recurring printouts from content partners–and the company is pilot testing a program with Yahoo’s advertising network to deliver targeted ads on those scheduled printouts. [More]
Toyota Probably Should Have Written This Spam's Subject Line More Carefully
By 3.11.10
“Amazing Incentives For Select Toyotas That Will Not Last Long.”
Reader Maida did a spit-take when this email from a Toyota dealer offering 0% APR for 60 months landed in her inbox. Yeeks, talk about a syntactical pileup.
I Am Liberal And Employed, But Republicans And Job Sites Won't Stop Spamming Me
By 3.4.10
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]
Spammer Forgets To Fill Out Personalization Fields
By 1.19.10
I got this spam recently. Looks like our spammer forgot to fill out his form fields! “Whatsup My parents are from #CSVFIELD(3)# too! Are you 100% sure you wish to get rid of this #CSVFIELD(2)#?”I love how vague and modular it is, it’s like spam madlibs! [More]
FCC Chair Spams Facebook Friends
By 12.31.09
His account apparently compromised by a spammer’s program, FCC chair Julius Genachowski sent out a message this morning to all his Facebook friends that said, “Adam got me started making money with this.” Adam Smith perhaps? We’ll never know, as the website Julius linked to is now unavailable. [More]
New Jersey Wants To Stop Unsolicited Text Message Ads
By 12.29.09
New Jersey isn’t content with going after unsolicited junk mail checks and credit card offers–it appears to be aiming for Least Friendly Junk Marketing State in the Union. The latest target: marketers who send out unsolicited text messages. [More]
New Jersey Wants Marketers To Stop Mailing Unsolicited Checks
By 11.30.09
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty wants direct mail marketers to stop sending out those “free money!” checks that auto-enroll you in expensive programs when you deposit them, while a senator has introduced a similar measure. “Instead of relying on tricks, companies looking to sell their services in New Jersey should go back to the old-fashioned way: earning consumers’ trust,” said Moriarty. [More]
