Credit Card Services
Post Office Box 7092
Bridgeport, CT 06601
Account Number XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
I am writing to dispute the following charge:
01/29 02/01 85456110031701887007089 MAD HAT INTERNATIONAL COLUMBIA SC 18.45
Before making this purchase, I contacted the merchant and asked specific questions about the product I was considering purchasing, to determine if it would meet my needs. The answers to my questions provided by the merchant were objectively, factually incorrect. If the merchant had answered correctly, I would have known that the product was not suitable for my needs, and I would not have purchased it.
On the day the product arrived, February 2, 2010, I immediately ascertained upon opening it that the merchant had provided me with incorrect information and the product was useless to me. I put it back in its packaging without using it and sent the merchant email complaining about the problem. He did not respond to my email.
I sent another email February 22, and once again, the merchant did not respond.
I am not going to waste my time explaining why this is clearly intended to deceive the recipient about the source, importance, and content of these mailings. I know this is so; you know this is so; the methods of deception and intent to deceive are obvious. I’m quite certain that a judge will agree.
I received a number of these mailings before I finally decided to ask you to stop sending them. On October 15, I sent a message through the contact form on your Web site which read as follows:
(Do not add my email address to any bulk email lists as a result of this submission. I am providing you with my email address only so that you can respond to this request. NO OTHER USE OF MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS AUTHORIZED.)
(Do not add my postal mailing address to any direct-marketing lists as a result of this submission. I am providing you with my postal address only so that you can remove me from your direct-marketing list as described below. NO OTHER USE OF MY POSTAL ADDRESS IS AUTHORIZED.)
For months now, you have been sending me junk mail in envelopes that you have intentionally designed to deceive recipients. You’ve made them look like some sort of official certified or registered mail, and you’ve intentionally left your company name and return address off of the envelopes. These envelopes are clearly designed to get people to open them, when they would just throw them in the trash if it was obvious they were from you.
This kind of deceptive direct-mail advertising is exceedingly slimy. It is distressing to me that I purchased a vehicle from a company that employs such slimy tactics. You have proven to me, unfortunately not for the first time, that my initial impression, that you were different from all the other slimy car dealers out there, was wrong.
Whatever mailing list I am on to be sent these slimy mailings — please get me off of it. Right now. And leave me off of it. Permanently.
Honda Village did not have the courtesy to reply. Furthermore, since I sent the message quoted above, I have received at least two more of these offensive mailings, the most recent one today.
If you had stopped sending these when I asked you to stop, I would have left it at that. But since you didn’t, I have decided to teach you a lesson not only about not sending junk mail to people who have asked you to stop, but also about engaging in deceptive trade practices.
A representative of Life Miracle, the manufacturer of the Magnetic Laundry System about which I wrote several days ago, responded to my article here. Here is my response:
Recently, while browsing for eCards to send on care2.com, I was presented with an ad for nomoredetergent.com, a Web site which claims to sell a “Breakthrough Invention Which Washes Your Clothes For Free Without Toxic Chemicals, Saves Your Family’s Skin Health, and Your Money!”
The “invention” they sell is two magnets encased in rubbery plastic, which you’re supposed to put into your washing machine instead of detergent. The Web site claims, “Research by Physicist Dr. Hendrick Lorentz shows that with the right magnetic fields, water molecules (H2O) [sic] are made to have similar effects that detergent chemicals do… in other words, they stick to other tiny particles like dirt, and carry them off!”
I was dubious, as you probably are as well. But Care2 is a pretty reputable site, and the upside of never needing to pay for or use laundry detergent again is pretty high. Furthermore, I figured that if it was a scam, then I’d have fun performing an experiment to prove it. So I went ahead and ordered a set of the magnets.
So, what do you think… Is it a scam or isn’t it? Read on to find out.
A phishing message in my spam folder caught my eye today, so I decided to take a closer look at it.
It claimed to be from CapitalOne. It had a legitimate sender address, a legitimate Subject line (“Please Call Us Regarding Recent Restrictions”), and convincing-looking content that was mostly lifted straight from a real CapitalOne email message. Most importantly, all of the links in the message were legitimate links pointing at capitalone.com URLs.
The only text in the message that was not boilerplate was this:
Please Call Us Regarding Recent Resctriction [sic]
This is not a promotional e-mail. Please call us immediately at (866) 496-5027 regarding recent activity on your Capital One Card. We’re available 24/7 to take your call.
Please disregard this e-mail if you’ve already call us since the date this e-mail was sent.
We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
Thank you
Capital One Card Fraud Prevention Security Department
Here’s what makes this phishing message different from others I’ve seen: the “hook” is the phone number, not the links in the email body.
Here’s what you hear, recited in a female computer-synthesized voice, when you call the number shown above:
Welcome to the the card activation center. Please remember that we will never ask for your personal information such as your social security number, passwords, card numbers, etc. via email. Please enter your card number followed by the pound key.
[doesn't matter what you enter here]
Please enter your personal identification number associated with this card followed by the pound key.
Please enter your four-digit expiration number [sic] (months year) followed by the pound key.
Please hold while your card is activated.
The card number, personal identification number or expiration date doesn’t match with our records.
[starts over]
Obviously, whoever set up this toll-free number is collecting card numbers, expiration dates and PINs, which they will then either sell or use to obtain cash advances from ATMs.
I wish there were somewhere I could report this scam to get the toll-free number taken down, but I honestly have no idea who would be interested in doing something about this and able to act quickly.
![[Digg]](http://blog.kamens.brookline.ma.us/~jik/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://blog.kamens.brookline.ma.us/~jik/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Email]](http://blog.kamens.brookline.ma.us/~jik/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
