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Smart but slimey advertising

by Rob Toth
5 replies
A novice web-business owner colleague sent me an email asking me "how should I reply to this"...

I read through the back and forth that was in that email.

A company (aka. spammer) contacted him by email as a "courtesy" to let them know that the domain he owns a DOT COM of is about to be registered by a big Hong Kong tech firm for all the .cn and other Asian domain extensions.

They were contacting him simply to ensure that he was indeed approving this company of to owning the .cn and other Asian extensions of his DOT COM domain name.

This had him confused as he was wondering whether he should buy the 6 recommended extensions.

I give credit to it being a smart tactic. Unfortunately, it's incredibly slimey and abusive at the same time.

Obviously the company is simply spamming him and playing off of ignorance to try to sell .cn and related extensions.

It wouldn't have been a big loss for him, but certainly a waste of approx $60 just for having "fallen victim" to this sly little scam.
#advertising #slimey #smart
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Dominic
    Now take that type of tactic, flip it on its side, and promote a product (without spamming) that can actually benefit the target.
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  • Profile picture of the author UcheO
    You should always be careful of the statements made in any email sent dealing with information about any of your domains or accounts on other websites. There are many scams like this.
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  • Profile picture of the author howudoin
    True its the .com one that counts.

    This tactic is definately slimey even if such a "big Hong Kong tech firm" does exist, For it is still spamming if he did not subscribed to their list

    Bhupinder
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  • Profile picture of the author Dixiebelle
    It's really hard to keep up with all the garbage that comes over the internet, and into our email boxes these days.

    It reminds me of the stories about the growth of the Wild West. It grew so fast that every man had to defend his own against theft, death, or whatever else came his way, until marshall law was finally inacted.

    I know we have internet laws. It's just that there doesn't seem to be an authority in place to inforce them. Marketers don't seem to want to pursue it. They would rather just move on - until the next time.

    I would'nt be surprised to find that some of the type of scare tactics that you are referring to, comes from some of the slimmy, low class registrars that no one wants to do business with anymore. You know who they are. How else are they going to drum up business?

    This make me so angry, that I have to just blow off a little steam every now and then. Sorry about that.

    Have a good day.

    Dixie
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