Spammers - Where do They Come Up With This Stuff?

By Laurie Rogers
Posted Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Lets face it we all get spammed and it drives us nuts! If it were not for folders, I would probably NEVER find my "legitmate" email. I probably do NOT get as much spam as most people do, but when I do get it, boy do I get it! I especially love it when people come by and spam my paid list building site, little do they know that I have several ways of finding out WHO they are ;o)

When it comes right down to it though, sometimes you really have to laugh at some of the garbage they send. According to spammers not only do I need viagra, I also need an enlargement for a body part I don't even have. I some how also managed to request this information at one of their sites, not once, but 200 freakin' times.

We all have our incoherent days, but I think I would at least get the drift after the first 100 times. And really now, like I am going to send a spammer my credit card info in an email! Like I said, we all have our incoherent days, but I am sure as heck NOT that darn incoherent at ANY time. Even if a web site doesn't use a "secure" server -I'm NOT buying and there's no two ways about it, let alone in an email.

Seriously, like how stupid do these people really think we are? "Laurie how would you like to harvest millions of email addresses a day?" Whoo-Hoo! I better jump right on that one, so my web host can shut me down and I can lose EVERYTHING I've worked so hard for in the last 3 plus years. Yeah I will get right on that one.

"I saw your site and got your email." Really? So what did it look like? Because last time I checked there was NO site for that email address you moron. And if there was - WHO said you could email me?

What really makes me laugh is in the body of the email it reads, "Would you like to start a home business?" You just told me you went to my site, obviously you would know I ALREADY have a business! In fact, I have four of them so you may want to head back there that way you can learn the REAL way to market online.

This last little episode really gave me a good chuckle, I got spammed by some person claiming I requested the information (a private email address). So, I reported it to the program owner and to the autoresponder service that they were using (which is owned by a good friend of mine). The program owner allowed the person to state their "case" and forwarded me a copy of their response.

This was their reply - "I'm not certain where I received that email address from. I used to buy email addresses, but I don't do that anymore. I have been marketing now for over two years and NEVER had a spam complaint, so I'm really appalled at this acusation. I have had 4 of my ISP accounts shut down, because maybe the people were offended by the ad copy. The person who sent you this complaint MUST be someone I have previously been in contact with because that is the only way to get on my list."

Sheesh, I wonder WHO the LIAR is in this case? There's nothing like a contradictive statement to hang yourself out to dry. In this case the person should have just came right out and said, "Yeah, I harvested her email address", instead of talking in circles and digging themselves into a DEEPER hole. The great Homer Simpson once said, "DOH"! (but hey at least he admits to doing something STUPID!)

About the Author
Laurie Rogers - co-author Ezine Resource Guide you can view at (http://www.zineadz.com/erg.html) You can also obtain more of Laurie's articles at: mailto:ezinearticles@optinfrenzy.com Laurie is also the owner of Optin Frenzy - list building program for ezine and newsletter publishers. (http://www.optinfrenzy.com)