Vakkotaur

Over two years ago, on August 5, 2006 I posted a couple scans of an advertising come on as well as a transcript of the text. That post shows up on web searches and has received a few comments from other folks curious about who was behind the card. One or two claim to have been salesm...er, Marketing Directors, for the company. Of course there have been the occasional defenders of the company as well. No big deal.

But in last few weeks this post has gotten more replies than usual. One joker made the mistake of posting how he worked for the company in one post, and then a bit later posting how he was a customer of the wonderful place - from the same IP. Since I pointed that out the IP addresses are no longer even similar. But the recent spate of anonymous defenders urging me to "do something beneficial" and seems more than mere coincidence. ("Once is a fluke, twice is coincidence, three times is a trend.") It smells of astroturfing to me. Considering the nature of the "advertising" that prompted the original post, I am not at all surprised. Well, I sort of am. All this attention given to a 2+ year old post? Is my little post that big a deal for them? Wow. How delicate and desperate is their situation if that old post is a somehow a threat?

This time it's an "Important Delivery" letter. A designation that USPS does not use. It's pink. It's a 'carbonless' envelope with black obscuring over much of it, so it looks like something that has personal information or a check. But countering that is the text "SECOND NOTICE" which is a lie. For it to be a second of anything there'd have to be a previous one.

Opening it, oh gee, they're "trying to reach" me. Seems they have my address and just did. Oh, it's about a sweepstakes. Hrm, it's from Clearwater, Florida. As if the alarums hadn't been tripping merrily already. Let's see what Google brings up. Only link about the included phone number. This link about sleazy magazine subscription come ons.

This is another case of them not able to do telemarketing so trying to get folks to call them. And since they very carefully avoid saying they're selling anything (though there is a disclaimered logo of one magazine and reference to "if you decide to take advantage of our magazine offer" in the fine print) I am uncertain as to if I can effectively sic 'em with a Form 1500, dagnabbit.

The initials, which they use in the return address, are appropriate: N.M.E. Yep, an enemy to be thwarted.

I've mentioned this bit of scammy advertising (here and here) that attempts to trick the recipient of a post card into calling a number so as to bypass any Do Not Call listings. Since then, I've gotten yet another card from these jokers.

This time I didn't just toss it. Instead, I've scanned it so it can be an example for me to point out a few things. Also, I'm transcribing it so that search engines can find this entry and match it to any inquiries based on the text or phone numbers.

( "Steal" these images. )

The full text of the back of this alleged post card is as follows:

I've been unable to reach you about a free gift. Please call 1-800-728-3902 within the next five days to find out how to receive your FREE George Foreman Grill.

Chris Johnson

Awards Coordinator

And just to make it a bit easier for searches, that phone number not to call is 18007283902 or 8007283902 or 1 800 728 3902 or 1-800-728-3902 or 800-728-3902.

For anyone who didn't bother with the links and wonders just who these jokers are and what this about, this is from K-Designers and they want people to call them so they can try to sell siding. Supposedly if you endure their sales pitch(es) you will actually eventually get a grill. Gee, why don't they say who they are or what their product is before people call?

Looking around the net some, it seems they went with this gimmick when Do Not Call went into effect and they couldn't interrupt your supper anymore. That should give some idea of how ethical these jokers are.

In the space of a few minutes from 3:23 CST to 3:31 CST (by LiveJournal's clock) today there were several posts all from IP Address (140.239.81.98) each claiming to be a different satisfied customer, in at least three different states. All from the very same IP address. All in a few minutes. What does that mean? One person, using the same computer, pretending to be multiple people. This is called Astroturfing as it is an attempt to appear to be a grassroots thing but is, like astroturf, not the real thing. This is the second time someone at a single IP claimed to be multiple people, all of whom happened to be defending K-Designers. I hardly need to say what this says about the company, or at the very least about some of its employees.

Sleazeball #1: K-Designers

A couple times now I've gotten a bit of advertising that is almost but not quite a postcard. It has a printed note that tries and utterly fails to look like a personal handwritten note, asking me to please call an 800 number in the next five days implying that waiting too long will mean I won't get a free, pardon me, FREE George Foreman Grill. It's from an alleged "Awards Coordinator" and lacks any return address.

Smells like a scam of some kind, doesn't it? It is. Googling for the 800 number reveals the scam. It's a means of getting folks to call them, thus bypassing telemarketing rules. Then they try to sell siding.

What amuses me is that I've gotten two of these, weeks if not months apart. Do they expect I'll be worried about missing another phony five day window?

[UPDATE: 22 AUGUST 2009

They have a new card now. It's still a "free gift, call us" ploy, but at least now the card has K-Designers' return address as an identifying mark.]

Sleazeball #2: MG2

A couple days ago there was a card in the mail and it looked somewhat like a state lottery scratch-off ticket. The gimmick is that if you uncovered numbers that made one of the winning patterns on the bingo cards printed on the thing, you had a chance of winning one of several prizes. There is also a bit of arithmetic to do so that it isn't a lottery as far the law is concerned. There is a number to call if one wins.

So far it's just strange, but there is also the fine print. Unfortunately for sleazeballs I am both suspicious and literate. The catch? If you call the number, you play and players "agree to a demonstration of an MG2 home care product." There is, of course, "no obligation to buy" but really, expect pressure even if it is not stated outright.

These sleazy come-ons are amusing in a sad way. I am amused that someone thinks I'll fall for this crap. I am rather depressed that there are probably enough folks who will fall this crap that it will be considered worth the effort and expense. If someplace must resort to this level of sleazy advertising, doesn't that say something about the value of what they offer?

[UPDATE: I got another card, this time I posted scans of it. (IJ: scans) -- 25 June 2007]

[ADDENDUM: This company (MG2) uses a few names, at least in Canada. Those names are: Tri-Star Vacuum Sales & Service, Star Industries, MG2, Star West, 114225 Alberta Ltd, and Supreme Air. Source. -- 29 July 2009]

[ADDENDUM: Today, 11 August 2009 at 3:37 PM Central Daylight Time, I received a phone call from someone at Supreme Air (according to the Caller ID [IJ: Caller ID photo]), claiming to be a lawyer named Mark Wahlberg representing Tri-Star.[1] He claimed to be calling to confirm my address[2] so he could send a registered letter about a libel action in regard to this post.[3] He insisted that I had posted a claim that the company was acting illegally, but would not say where or how I had done so. He claimed "to be reading the web page" and then claimed he had "read it four times today and didn't need to read it again" yet could not point out the alleged actual claim.

I doubt very much that this is any coincidence with the spate of anonymous replies from IP 75.158.95.1 made by someone claiming to be Bill Duncan.[4] Such replies generally have attacked others here who have posted anything critical of MG2/Tri-Star/Supreme Air/etc. I cannot say for sure that it is the same person, but it is difficult to believe this is coincidence.

When I told a lawyer friend of mine about this call and went into the details there was disbelief that any lawyer would have to call someone to confirm their address. When I pointed out how bogus the name seemed I got the reply, "That's fraud. Possibly wire fraud, if he used the phone." and "If that was a lawyer calling using a false identity...um, bar disciplinary committees tend to take a very dim view of that." Considering the nature of the call, I very much doubt that "Mark Wahlberg" really is a lawyer at all. "Pretending to be a lawyer is arguably the practice of law without a license, which I think is a misdemeanor, but also fraud."

Thus the attempt to intimidate me regarding this post actually is an illegal action. Before that call, everything here only mentioned shady ethics and morals. I even pointed out that the arithmetic on the BINGO card was specifically to comply with legal requirements. But now I can factually state that someone at Supreme Air has committed fraud in an attempt to intimidate me. Obviously, that attempt has backfired with this addendum.

UPDATE: 2011 AUGUST 04 - It has been at least several months since this post has gotten any non-spam comment. I am getting several spam comments each week and am tiring of them. If LJ had a mechanism to restrict comments to registered users that could be used on an individual post basis, I would use it. As LJ does not have such a useful thing (and I have some reason not to disable all unregistered comments for the entire journal) I am now locking this post from further comment, at least until such time as a more refined means of spam-prevention (rather than recovery) becomes available on LJ. Spammers and spambots will not have this particular avenue even if the only one to see the result is me as I delete the offending crap. To any legitimate would-be commenters, there are other, related posts I am not (yet) locking down. Sorry for the inconvenience.