What's the worst spam you've ever experienced?

[Kay]

I stumbled across something today that reminded me of this one. It goes back several years. Spam Arrest - an anti-spam company (yeah, right) - not only spammed their customers, but they also took their customers' email lists, and spammed them too.

It was a despicable thing to do. Loads of people were up in arms about it. Spam Arrest then tried to rewrite history by asking webmasters to remove the negative comments to try and whitewash the fact that it had ever happened.

We all make mistakes and an apology is usually acceptable, but what they did was IMO unforgivable. AFAIK, most webmasters (including me) refused to remove their content about the Spam Arrest scam.

Sure, we all get 419s and other rubbish but when an anti-spam company deliberately spams, I don't think it's easy to forgive or forget.

What's the worst spam you've received?

[grynge]

It's not the worst, but the SEO's that spam saying they only use WHITEHAT methods gotta laugh at that.

I absolutely love Australian Spam any australian company that spams me gets automatically reported to our ACMA spam report. I let them explain to the government why they spam, I have quite a few aussie domains so inevitably I get the same spam numerous times and report it for each domain lol. The worst part is most companies get a warning first but they do stop spamming after that warning.

[Clinton]

I didn't reply to this thread earlier as I couldn't decide my worst spam. So I'll start with a small list and maybe add to it later.

- Fake unsubscribe buttons that exist to tempt you into clicking so you confirm to the spammer that it's a working email address
- Real unsubscribe buttons from "reputed" organisations that lead to 404 pages ("it was a mistake, guv". Yeah. right!)
- Misuse of my email address by "friends" who give social networks like FB, LI etc access to their address book
- Bloody Indian SEOs who require read receipts for their spam. Idiots!
- People who think I've subscribed to their email list just because I bought something from them. No, dummy, I don't want your crap "newsletter"!

[Magnus]

Perhaps not spam, but nonetheless bothersome...

Exit pop-ups when you are about to leave a webpage... "are you sure you want to leave?"... well, if I wasn't sure before, I'm damn sure now!! Grrrrr....

[dschall]

A potential advertiser spam commented on a blog I showed him after tire kicking chatting it up on messenger looking for advertising space. Made him a nice quote and 5 minutes later..."A new comment on the post "xxxxxxxxxxx" is waiting for your approval". WTF.

[Andy]

I, too, had a hard time deciding what's worse. I still can't because I have no way of detecting "good" spam.

Fact is, I think current "anti" spam schemes are worse that the spam itself. I also believe true spam could be nearly eliminated if some authority went about it right. Maybe the Aussie government is doing this, but here's what "I" would do:

First of all TRUE spam is "unsolicited commercial email" - the key here is the word "commercial" - spammers spam because they make a profit doing so. Take out the profit and you remove any incentive. So all the "authorities" need do is follow the money and shut them down. It's easy enough to follow the money because most of these spam scams rely on affiliate programs where they have to provide real contact information to collect their checks and the money has to go someplace.

@ Clinton: while this distinction may not make you any happier about things - companies are allowed by law to maintain contact with paying customers. Having said that - ALL such companies are required to allow anyone to opt out. SMART companies only want to communicate with INTERESTED parties. In short, you may not like it, but it's not spam unless they continue to send you their stuff after you requested they stop.

My second proposal to slow down the spammers was offered (not to this forum) several years ago. I still like it - the fact that it's my "darling" doesn't make it a good or viable idea (PLEASE - no protests here! I know it's hard to believe but it's true! :-)

Anyway my proposal was:

Feemail. The concept is this: An email system where members only receive email from other members and everybody pays for the privilege. Now here's the thing: it's only designed to be expensive for marketers sending out a gazillion emails. Regular, non-commercial type folks get a generous allotment each month - generous so most users would never run out but not so generous as to make it profitable for spammers (who rely on FREE email to make a profit - they don't care if only 1 on 100,000 buy - they send out millions). On the other hand, real marketers can email users at a modest cost without fear of being shut down by bogus or uneducated "spam" complaints.

Best of all, those who really despise commercial email of any sort can elect to never receive any. This not only saves aggravation but also valuable marketing dollars.

Just a thought.

Andy

P.S. I forgot why I came here. Lately I'm experiencing a non-spam problem but it irks me all the same. Some idiot(s) have a robot that keeps autofilling my contact form for my copywriting services. The irony here is - while this form IS an autoresponder form - I just use it as a contact form so anyone inquiring about my services can ask me to get in touch with them. No newsletters, maybe one follow up and that's it.

[Clinton]

while this distinction may not make you any happier about things - companies are allowed by law to maintain contact with paying customers.

To me it's Unsolicited, it's Commercial and it's Email.

If the internet gods asked me to vote on it, I'd support your feemail.

[Kay]

C'mon Clinton, where are you? I'm #4 on G for Spam Arrest scam.

Oh well, maybe we wouldn't want to keep mentioning it and embarrass the owners who did the Spam Arrest scam.

I probably won't mention it again.

[crabfoot]

I also believe true spam could be nearly eliminated if some authority went about it right.

When you get right down to it, 90% of true spam originates from the activities of half a dozen blokes in NZ. Trouble is that they are so rich from spamming, it is almost impossible to make a direct link these days. Those guys just take the money ...