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Unethical Marketing To The Max

by Young Financier
13 replies
For the past month or so, I've been getting some pretty crazy spam marketing emails. On the first email, the subject read, "Your Mother Has Been Kidnapped!" I knew it was bullshit from the get-go, but I opened it out of curiosity to see what kind of scam this would be. The body of the email then says, "click here to purchase our product which will reveal how to retrieve your lost loved one" then had a bit.ly link which of course I didn't click. So I deleted the email, blocked the address and laughed it off. Despite blocking that email address, I've gotten the same type of email from different addresses 2 more times, except in the subject they replaced "mother" with "wife" and then w/ "kids."

Then I got another one just an hour or so ago with the subject, "We've Got Your Wife on Camera Performing Sexual Acts." Again, I knew that was bullshit.

It just makes me wonder....is the industry getting that desperate that people have to stoop to these kind of lows just to sell a product? Is this a sign that IM as we know it is dying?
#marketing #max #unethical
  • Profile picture of the author AZMD
    Originally Posted by Sean T Alexandre View Post

    It just makes me wonder....is the industry getting that desperate that people have to stoop to these kind of lows just to sell a product? Is this a sign that IM as we know it is dying?
    There always seems to be those bottom fishers out there extract money from people with these type of scams. Years ago it was much much worse... For me anyway.

    I can't understand for the life of me what goes through a persons head that makes them click links from those type of messages in the first place but then to follow through with what they're selling just makes no logical sense at all.
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    • Profile picture of the author greenbay92
      I call that Desperate Marketing.

      Bottom of the barrel no-gooders who use shock-and-awe with a lot of cheesy, recycled headlines with the hope of baiting the curious or the paranoid. It's nothing new. Every society, medium and message has its own set of sociopathic deviants.
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    • Profile picture of the author BrightShinyObjects
      Originally Posted by AZMD View Post

      There always seems to be those bottom fishers out there extract money from people with these type of scams. . .

      I can't understand for the life of me what goes through a persons head that makes them click links from those type of messages in the first place but then to follow through with what they're selling just makes no logical sense at all.
      I get recorded phone calls that start out "The FBI..." at which point I hang up. Scare tactics are a perennial favorite. So it must work with some people.

      Scam is scam. I don't think it's getting worse, it's always there, whatever the technology. Even the snake oil salesmen in the Old West had people who bought from them when they warned their audience that parts of their bodies would fall off unless they bought the wonderful elixir they were hawking.

      It's always irritating, phone call or email or texting, like an invasion of my personal space.

      "Bottom fishers" is a kind term! And I agree with you, "what goes through a persons head that makes them click links from those type of messages." That's a whole 'nother puzzle!

      I wonder if there are studies of people who buy the snake oil elixir, listen to the scam recorded calls and buy something (who knows what!), and click these weird links.

      Might be an interesting marketing tool. An enterprising IMer could develop an anti-scam alert that would go off if susceptible people were thinking of buying. Maybe their spouses or parents would buy it for them! I'm sure a lot of money goes down the drain. Someone is clearly buying this stuff or we wouldn't keep getting the calls, email, etc.

      Marketing, figuring out what people will buy and why, is really fascinating!

      Cheers,
      Mary
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  • Profile picture of the author evilbunnies
    I've always found these bottom fishers to be annoying, and I just feel sorry for the people who fall for this stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyisonline
    It's not just the scare tactics being used. Well known people in the IM industry use the same boosheet to increase open rates.

    "You've just received Commissions"
    "Your commission has been sent"
    "Money has been deposited in your PayPal Account"

    Then when you open the email it says:

    "Wouldn't you like to have emails in your inbox that say that?....blah blah blah".

    What do you mean? I DO get those emails in my inbox constantly! From bs IM'ers.

    These are the people who couldn't run a real long-term relationship-based business if their life depended on it. They have to play the numbers...LOTS and LOTS of numbers using tricks and BS tactics.

    Personally I would just like a 1 cent commission on their list churn.
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    • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
      Originally Posted by garyisonline View Post

      "You've just received Commissions"
      "Your commission has been sent"
      "Money has been deposited in your PayPal Account"

      This garbage always results in an instant unsubscribe from me - no exceptions.

      I haven't received anything quite as bad as what Sean described in his original post but it doesn't surprise me. In the fight to get attention in an increasingly crowded Inbox it seems some marketers will stoop to anything. The irony of course is that they end up alienating more potential customers than they gain.

      I agree with Mary (BrightShinyObjects) - "bottom fisher" is far to kind a term for scum like this!

      Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author Saintsfan40
      Originally Posted by garyisonline View Post


      "You've just received Commissions"
      "Your commission has been sent"
      "Money has been deposited in your PayPal Account"
      Yeah that's like really annoying. One of the famous emails I used to receive. "Your Check Is Waiting"

      I would reply sarcastically. Oh Great!!! How much is my check worth?:rolleyes: Don't you need my address so you can mail it to me?

      And of course, you would never hear back from them lol.
      Signature

      What's the point of having a sig if no one buys from you?

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      • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
        I have received some emails saying that my bank account has money on hold.. those try to get your bank login information.

        Got also some saying I had refunds from the irs with attachments that are probably virus.

        The FBI one as well...

        The ones that are very old but still funny are the viagra ones... like I need it.
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        Coloring book niche? I have a proposal for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Marketers are increasingly fishing from the same ponds. They are finding a must to use a hypier type of bait to get a bite. Maybe they will learn, one of these days, to start going where no one else is fishing.

    As far as the OP. Do not just delete these types of emails .. report them to your email carrier, the carrier the emails are coming from and the police. You have a commission deserves an unsub and delete. Your family member is in danger deserves closer attention.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Silvey
      I can show you how to spin that spam into gold
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      • Profile picture of the author shane_k
        Originally Posted by Sean T Alexandre View Post


        It just makes me wonder....is the industry getting that desperate that people have to stoop to these kind of lows just to sell a product? Is this a sign that IM as we know it is dying?

        It's not the industry as a whole that is getting desperate, it is the bottom feeders with no skills, or no desire to develop any true marketing skills, and/or the bottom feeders who only care about money and don't have ethics that use these kind of strategies.

        I get the same thing in my emails and block them but they seem to keep coming up with other email addresses sending me the same damn things.


        Originally Posted by Troy_Phillips View Post


        As far as the OP. Do not just delete these types of emails .. report them to your email carrier, the carrier the emails are coming from and the police. You have a commission deserves an unsub and delete. Your family member is in danger deserves closer attention.
        Ok maybe this is a stupid question, but how is this done? The main email I use is from the University that I used to go to. So do I report it to the University techs as they run my email? Oh, for me it's actually a webmail version of outlook so we can access our email through any computer.

        And would the police really take something like this seriously?

        I guess the ones that say your wife/daughter/son has been kidnapped they would.
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        • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
          Originally Posted by shane_k View Post





          Ok maybe this is a stupid question, but how is this done? The main email I use is from the University that I used to go to. So do I report it to the University techs as they run my email? Oh, for me it's actually a webmail version of outlook so we can access our email through any computer.

          And would the police really take something like this seriously?

          I guess the ones that say your wife/daughter/son has been kidnapped they would.
          Someone is in charge of every email client. I honestly do not know how to get in touch with all of them.

          The police will take those kind of things very seriously when it is personal. It might not get too far but it will scare the hell out of the idiot that thinks they are a marketer.
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