• circuit city death watch

    Circuit City Turns To Unrelentingly Optimistic Junk Email As The End Nears

    Reader James forwarded us an unsolicited email from Circuit City that we had to post because it's just so chipper about the fact that they've resorted to spamming him out of desperation. It cheerfully proclaims, "Now you'll be the first to hear the latest news," before informing him that he'd been "chosen" as one of their "best customers" to receive spam. More »

    10:25 AM on Fri Nov 21 2008
    By Meg Marco
    9,804 views, 39 comments

    Most discussed friendlynerd: I got that yesterday too! There was an unsubscribe link, but it required signing in and all other sorts more »

  • scams

    Woman Loses $400,000 To Nigerian Email Scam

    Why did this woman, a reverend and a nurse, give over $400,000 to Nigerian email scammers? It started with just $100. The emails told her a long-lost relative with the same last name had $20.5 million caught up in the banks of Nigeria. Janella Spears just had to help with a few processing fees... More »

    1:22 PM on Fri Nov 14 2008
    By Ben Popken
    40,700 views, 204 comments

    Most discussed XianZhuXuande: I feel like I should feel bad for someone in this position, but the greed required to fall for something more »

  • whoops

    JetBlue Addresses Your Email To "Dear Mr. Soandso"

    JetBlue can be so cute sometimes. Apparently, they recently sent out and email addressed to Mr. Soandso explaining how much they missed all the Mr. Soandsos who had not flown with them in a year.

    More »

    11:44 AM on Thu Nov 6 2008
    By Meg Marco
    8,858 views, 28 comments

  • att

    ATT Filters Own ToS Changes As Spam

    Red Tape Chronicles reports on how AT&T internet decided to announce a change of its Terms of Service (ToS) via email. Some of the policies were contentious enough for some, but then many customers didn't even receive the email, because AT&T's own filters marked it as spam. Its questionable whether you can announce you're changing someone's contract by email fiat, especially if your own system prevents them from even receiving the message in the first place.

    AT&T customer caught in 'spam-22' [Red Tape Chronicles] (Photo: afagen)

    12:04 PM on Thu Oct 23 2008
    By Ben Popken
    2,728 views, 14 comments

    Most discussed azntg: Note to AT&T: 1) Please work with your outsourced e-mail company to prevent e-mail companies from marking ToS change notification e-mail more »

  • spam

    FTC Busts Giant Spam Operation, Enlarges Penis

    Yesterday the FTC announced that they busted a worldwide spam operation that was responsible for "billions of e-mails in recent years," mostly selling prescription drugs, diet pills, and "male enhancement" products. Who actually clicks on those emails, you wonder? FTC agents, that's who!
    As part of their inquiry, FTC staff made undercover purchases from the sites. No one asked the clandestine buyers to provide verification of a prescription and the shipped drugs did not include doctors' instructions or dosage information, officials said.
    More »

    8:15 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
    By Chris Walters
    6,370 views, 46 comments

    Most discussed Ein2015: Gmail has really solved my spam problems. :) more »

  • renting

    Beware Of Apartment Scammers

    A reader writes,
    In the course of searching for a new place to live in Minneapolis, I found a great condo right in the area I was looking for, renting for $900/mo for a 1 bedroom which included electricity, gas, water, sewer, garbage, cable, and high speed internet! Sound too good to be true? You bet...it was a scam.
    More »

    9:01 PM on Tue Sep 23 2008
    By Chris Walters
    24,469 views, 58 comments

    Most discussed illtron: I found this listing for a very "specious" apartment on Craigslist a few months ago... [www.flickr.com] more »

  • privacy

    Online 'Security Questions' Can Be Too Easy To Crack

    The ease with which a student was able to reset Sarah Palin's Yahoo email password highlights a vulnerability of so-called "challenge questions" designed to verify your identity: if the questions are about personal details from your life, there's a risk that somewhere out there on the web, that info is visible to the public. That might be a realistic risk only for public figures, but it's also possible that friends or family members could answer your questions with a little guesswork. If you want better security, make up fake answers that you'll remember. More »

    2:36 PM on Fri Sep 19 2008
    By Chris Walters
    6,796 views, 49 comments

    Most discussed testsicles: Another good tip I read was to create a stand pin that you take onto the beginning or end of more »

  • personal finance

    'Rudder' Provides Your Daily Financial Status Via Email

    Rudder is a new personal finance service that differs from the dozens of other ones now available in two key ways: it presents a simplified overview of your available funds, which it calls "What's Left," and it delivers it (along with bill reminders and balance notifications) to your email inbox instead of requiring you to visit a website. Think of it as a highly customized "Very Short List" or "Daily Candy," only the topic is always your current financial health. More »

    5:29 PM on Fri Sep 12 2008
    By Chris Walters
    6,032 views, 10 comments

    Most discussed wellcum: Great, most Americans are just too stupid and too lazy to check their finance online. more »

  • spam

    Court Changes Mind, Strikes Down Anti-Spam Law

    The Virginia Supreme Court agreed to reconsider its original judgment on the state's anti-spam law, which made it illegal to send email using an anonymous email address or IP address. Their new decision: prohibiting anonymously sent emails is a violation of the First Amendement.
    The court noted that "were the 'Federalist Papers' just being published today via e-mail, that transmission by Publius would violate the [current Virginia] statute."
    More »

    2:50 PM on Fri Sep 12 2008
    By Chris Walters
    2,692 views, 36 comments

    Most discussed johnva: I have to disagree with this reasoning. While certainly anonymous speech should be permissible, it shouldn't necessarily be permissible VIA more »

  • apple

    Customer: "I Have A Brain Tumor" Apple Rep: "Not My Problem. Okay. So You Want..."

    You don't have to believe everything customers say to you when you're a customer service rep. You don't even have to actually care. But if you can't stop yourself from slipping in phrases like "not my problem" when you're helping out a customer, maybe you need to try a different career. Like, say, parole officer. More »

    11:06 PM on Thu Sep 11 2008
    By Chris Walters
    19,625 views, 136 comments

    Most discussed glitch44: To be honest: is this really something you should be sharing on a tech support call? It's such a more »