FOREWARD
Just want to get this out of the way. There's a big misconception floating around - that I somehow like, or thrive off of, controversy...
I wish.
The truth is... I can't stand it.
So, before I clue you in on the latest, let me reiterate what this blog is about...
Here (when I'm up to it), we can discuss pretty much anything about the world of marketing whether it is good, sound, marketing techniques, stealth applications or boneheads who make life difficult for everyone else.
And here's what it is isn't...
This blog (and myself) do not go out looking for, or creating, controversy. It either comes to me, or I stumble across it, and I usually don't shy away or back down from it... unless there'd be a really good reason for it. It's only the perpetrators who accuse me of bullying but whoever steps back and looks at the scene objectively will see that the "bullying" is nothing short of a simple, long-term discussion where they begin by defending their actions and then end by claiming they're being harrassed. That's the formula...
- Defend actions, at length;
- Have defense questioned;
- Call Sam names and accuse him of being mean;
What can I say, folks? I'm like a Timex that just keeps ticking. If someone responds to me, I respond to their response and, generally, I'll keep going until the matter is resolved or until I think the public has witnessed enough to make their own intelligent decision. Onward...
Today's Controversy:
SPAM, SCAM, THANK YOU, MA'AM
Now, here's one of the latest controversies. I discovered it - as it happened to me - and took the time to analyze it - so you probably won't find news of it anywhere else.
"Subject: NEW SWIFT CARD PAYMENT OF YOUR CONTRACT/INHERITANCE FUNDS."
I got a couple of SPAM emails in which the doofus spammer accidentally included a bunch of the emails from the spam list. Knowing that one of the spam-prevention tricks people use when signing up for a mailing list is to create a mail account specifically for that mailing list (like if you were to sign up for mine, you might create "samslist AT yourisp.com" as your email address), I scanned them for any signs of similarities.
To my chagrin, I spotted recurrences of a site name belonging to a well-known internet marketer, Brad Fallon. And the site was...
A "YouTube"-Plus for Internet Marketers
(here's my author page, for example)
Now, let me be clear. Knowing Brad's reputation, I can easily stipulate that he would never resort to breaching anyone's privacy. He seems well capable of making money and helping marketers quite honestly and legitimately. I also can't even say that it really did HAPPEN at, or through, FreeIQ, but the presence of "freeiq", five times, in the email addresses of people on the spammer's list is pretty good evidence of a connection.
And the names on the list aren't no-namers either... some of the names on the spammer's list include some well-known internet marketers with whom Brad is acquainted such as Mike Filsaime, Armand Morin, Cody Moya and Joel Comm. There's even an email address FROM FreeIQ on the list so someone AT FreeIQ is on the spammer's list, too.
So What Happened?
More than likely, it is the work of some unscrupulous vendor at FreeIQ. The vendor probably made some sweet-as-pie offer or is a good-guy-turned-bad since the list included big-name marketers who generally don't need the kinds of things offered by average marketers.
I honestly just can't believe anyone would be this evil and stupid and I hope Brad takes this seriously and gets to the bottom of it even if his privacy policy warns of it.
Last I heard, VIA TWITTER FOLKS, is that Brad had been looking for venture capital. I'm not sure why he'd need it since everything I read about StomperNet, etc, talks about how 100s pay $1000s monthly to be members but there it is on Twitter: he's seeking venture capital. And I think there would be some concern, and rightfully so, if somehow, users of FreeIQ are having their private information compromised.... even through a vendor.
And I have some thoughts on how, very simply, he can investigate this problem.
The Solution
This is really simple, actually. And it should be taken seriously.
From what I can see, whenever someone buys or signs up for something from a FreeIQ vendor, the vendor collects the lead information including the email. FreeIQ SHOULD keep a list of those leads somewhere in its database even if the vendor imports then deletes them. This will allow FreeIQ to EASILY follow-up on spam concerns and to cross-reference any such spam lists that come to light such as was accidentally included in the spammer's mail.
I know, for example, that I don't recall signing up for much, if anything at all, at FreeIQ so if FreeIQ had a way to determine how many FreeIQ vendors have received my lead, the whole field would be narrowed down immediately and significantly. And I'm willing to provide him with the portion of the spam list found in the spam mail.
In Conclusion
"Why didn't you just go tell him privately, Sam?"
I would have liked to, really, but let's face it - things never really work out that way. It would be nice if they did. But what I've come to expect in similar situations is a pleasant little form letter saying something like, "Thank you, we'll look into it." after which one never hears back from them again.
As I said, clearly, I am not definitively stating that this happened via FreeIQ but that, having been in this field for some time now, I know how people set up their email addresses for spam prevention when joining lists and "freeiq" appears at least 5 times in the list - and some major marketers with whom Brad is acquainted are on that list.
Whatever the case may be, I'll definitely keep my readers updated.
After all the typical, obvious Top 500 Alexa-ranking websites such as Yahoo, Youtube, Microsoft Live and all the social networking sites on which tons of kiddies hang out, we find, just barely eclipsed by Google Chile, Megarotic, in position number 23. It makes me wonder, out of 195, or so, countries in the world, just what the heck are all those Chileans searching for? I'll bet if Chileans knew about Megarotic, Google Chile's high-ranking would become a thing of the past.
Since it's abundantly clear that the bulk of searches are composed of people looking for free p*0rn (have to do that to avoid the p*rn bots), if searchers checked Alexa we would see a MASSIVE restructuring of the online, and world, economies.
