As part of their inquiry, FTC staff made undercover purchases from the sites. No one asked the clandestine buyers to provide verification of a prescription and the shipped drugs did not include doctors’ instructions or dosage information, officials said.
spam
FTC Busts Giant Spam Operation, Enlarges Penis
By 10.16.08
Timberland Offering Up To $150 To Recipients Of Its Text Message Spam
By 9.24.08
Under the terms of a preliminary settlement agreement, [Timberland and e-commerce company GSI] will pay $7 million into a cash fund to reimburse those who received the messages, according to KamberEdelson LLC, one of the law firms that helped bring the suit.
Court Changes Mind, Strikes Down Anti-Spam Law
By 9.12.08
The court noted that “were the ‘Federalist Papers’ just being published today via e-mail, that transmission by Publius would violate the [current Virginia] statute.”
How Marketers Trick Your Secretary Into Opening Fax Spam Floodgates
By 9.4.08
Joe used to work at a multi-million-dollar fax spam company. Since it’s illegal to cold call fax, here’s the trick they would use to start fax-spamming a company and be covered in case of legal action. It’s all about pretexting the secretary. Here’s how it works:
"How Do I Stop Fax Spam?"
By 9.3.08
Harry keeps getting spammed via his fax machine. Frankly, we think fax machines stopped being relevant or useful in about 1998, but until the rest of the world catches up to our way of thinking, here are some ways you can try to limit the damages.
Getting Nigerian Email Scammed, A First-Person Story
By 7.31.08
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you responded to one of those Nigerian scam emails, offering fabulous riches for just a small amount of work? Here’s the story from an unsuspecting college student who totally fell for one. An impecunious immigrant to this country from rural China, he made the perfect target for “Dr. Mike Johnson.” The good doctor was looking to hire some employees. The job? Cashing Traveler’s Cheques and forwarding the money on to Nigeria… In other words, the job was to be a victim of check fraud. Here’s the story…
By 7.16.08
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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]
Feazel Roofing Responds To Misleading Junk Mail Accusations
By 6.18.08
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:
Roofing Co Sends Misleading"Class Action" Junk Mail, Fakes Customer Reviews Online
By 6.11.08
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.
As Food Costs Rise, People Are Buying More Ramen and…Spam?
By 5.29.08
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?
It's Illegal To Stick Unstamped Flyers In Mailboxes, But The Post Office Doesn't Care
By 5.28.08
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.
1-800PetMeds' Relentless Spam Email Makes Your Mother Cry
By 5.28.08
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…
Should The Government Set Up A "Do-Not-Track" List?
By 4.18.08
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.
Reunion.com Will Scrape Your Address Book, Then Spam Your Contacts
By 4.17.08
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.
Conde Nast Will Never Stop Emailing You. Never. Stop Asking.
By 4.10.08
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.”
Peachtree Doesn't Believe You Really Wanted Off Their Mailing List
By 3.28.08
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…
By 3.26.08
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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/]
