There is a new spammer on the block, who is now selling his ill-gotten database of email addresses to anyone gullible enough to part with their cash. This slimeball is called "Jeremy" and he won't use his real name. I wonder why? Last month he sent out a marketing email to businesses:Subject: Crazy e-marketing Special!One can learn a lot about the sender from this message. Firstly, his use of upper case letters so prodigiously means that he is a marketing novice, and an internet newbie.
Dear Business Owner,
Special for 4 days only- (Mon 21/6-Thurs 24/6) DO NOT MISS OUT!
Make an outright purchase of our email address mailing lists. Use as you want, when you want!
1-NATIONAL SA ADDRESSES-ONLY ADDRESS WITH NO SEGMENTATION
1.5million (total) R4250 NOW ONLY R99!
2-AREA SPECIFIC SA ADDRESSES-SEGMENTED INTO AGE GROUPS, GENDER & WITH RECIPIENTS NAME (total 429 606)
DIALLING CODE/AREA TOTAL RECORDS
021(Cape Town) 82 967
031(Durban) 43 588
011(Gauteng) 201 154
013(Mpumalanga) 11 879
041(P.E) 11 779
012(Pretoria) 78 239
Totals 429 606 Now Only R200!
OR TAKE BOTH:
1-All 1.5million national random email addresses (R99)
+
2- All 429 606 area specific email addresses (R200)
BOTH FOR ONLY R250! –
For further information or to take advantage of this massive sale, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Best Regards,
Jeremy
Sales Executive
Cell 072-144-2588 Fax 086-622-6041
jeremy.datainc@live.co.za
Second, he is completely irresponsible about the use of such a mailing list, and I'm sure he has failed to point out to his prospective clients the legal pitfalls and ISP Terms of Service dangers involved in sending out spam. But then anyone dumb enough to buy such a list deserves to be parted from their money by this "Sales Executive". His company is not a member of the Direct Marketing Association, which says a lot about its business ethics too.Note: "DataInc - Complete Database Solutions" should not be confused with datainc.co.za, which is a legitimate business that doesn't involve itself in dubious and shady marketing deals.
Update 28th September 2011: It seems that "Ryan" (082-697-9197) is still selling these lists from 8 Canal Side, Century City, Cape Town. He has an ABSA bank account number 4067060916.
4 comments:
Young Jeremy has been a busy boy!
Several companies - who purport to be solid corporate citizens and who deal with blue-chip clients have made use of this database. After having their MDs informed of the error of their ways (don't bother witht he IT departments...) several have settled small claims actions out of court and have pointed to Jeremy.
Young Jeremy has, in turn, pointed the finger at the infamous Mr Tribelhorn as his source but then there are instances of him trading as MLD marketing previously where he has said the same thing.
It seems that as the heat picked-up as MLD he simpply re-skinned his internet e-mail account and carried on. What is more, he also sells leads to a UK based mass-mailing outfit called Web-Marketing Today who have (oh dear!) set up a domainon the SA .co.za register in the past few weeks. Guess what? They also have Jeremy's database on their systems so now the crime is international.
Several people have joined together in the past fortnight to put the heat on him. Through the use of tracing agents, legal letters to companies who sourced from him making section 45 and section 52 requests (as well as solicitations for the purchase of lists which have resulted in invoices with banking details for EFTs) his home address, bank details and other data is now known.
As section 52 of the ECA specifically criminalises the collection and re-distribution of data without the written permission of the data subject, his fee income from list sales are - technically - the proceeds of criminal activity and the AFU and other arms of the SAPF have been informed as has his banking company.
Another source in contact with him says he is starting to make full disclosure of the places he has sold to in an effort to prevent the light at the end of the tunnel transforming into a huge web of lawsuits in the small claims, magistrates and other courts. It is, apparently, slow going as his data keeping is not what one would expect of a reputable trader (Surprise-surprise!)
A formal complaint has been lodged by the group with the UK OFTEL regulator against webmarketing as well as the local district magistrate where the company is domiciled.
A web site will soon be set-up with postings of all the regulations used, the relevant sections of the ECA, the Telecommunications, companies, revenue and other acts which these people normally transgress as well as a free tool-kit to be used if you want to track down the source of usolicited marketing messages you may receive and/or take legal action to recover your costs in dealign witht he problem. It is possible and it is not expensive.
Enough is enough now! Everyone should be put in a position to fight back.
The good news is that Parliament will soon publish legislation making allmailing lists opt-in by law and the sale of lists a criminal offence. Yay!
In July 2010 I also picked up spam from originating from a list sold by Datainc. When I contacted them I was told they bought the list from mark Tribblehorn. I dealt with:
Ryan Courtney
Cell: 0826979197
Marketing Manager
rcourtney.marketing@gmail.com
DataInc is still going strong and deceiving legitimate businesses, get their web presence terminate for spamming.
> Ryan Courtney
> Marketing Assistant
> E-mail: rcourtney.marketing@gmail.com
> Website: www.datainc.co.za (under construction)
Interesting website link!
@Anonymous: The datainc web site and logo you refer to has nothing to do with the database company. DataInc in Odendaalsrus registered their domain name in 2008 and have a different logo. I believe their reputation may have been harmed by the "DataInc" spammers. I can't speak for the gmail address, but I doubt if it has anything to do with the company in Odendaalsrus.
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