Junk mail, phone solicitations and spam suck! There are ways to stop junk mail, spam (even on AOL) and telemarketers and I’ll show you the secrets how, for FREE! About 20 minutes of your time now, will clear your mail box of junk for the next few years. B.T.W. if ya really want to be proactive about SPAM, junkmail and telemarketing there is a way ya can get instant gratification. |
Phone Number Telephone Preference Service Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of phone solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
Getting Off a Telemarketer’s List
When a telemarketer calls, document when and where they are calling from and ask them to please put you on their “do not call” list (use those exact words). According to federal law they are not allowed to call you again. If they do, you can sue them for $500 to $1500. If the same people call back, they are violating the law. Ask for their company name, their supervisors name and phone number and make a report to the National Fraud Information Center.
B.T.W. if you want to call the Telephone Preference Service their unlisted number is (212) 768-7277
If you feel disposed to inconvenience them, you can ask for “a written copy of your do-not-call policy,” which the law requires them supply on demand. Many telemarketers have never heard of one. If they don’t know about it or don’t send it, you can sue them for $500. Awards of this kind have often proved far easier for consumers to obtain than other violations of FCC regulations. In fairness you might advise them to send it to you by certified mail so that they have proof of delivery in court. It’s probably worth noting the name of the person who accepted your request. Your evidence would be even stronger if they consent to you making an audio recording of them saying they will send the written policy by certified mail.
Phone Number Preference Service Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of mail solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is an organization funded by direct marketing companies. Some people assume that its purpose is to help customers, the truth is the express purpose of the DMA is to further direct marketing opportunities. By law, the DMA is required to take your name off their lists for a five year period when you make a request. To keep your name off the DMA mailing list you must write them every five years. The DMA process 50,000 name removal requests a month and estimates that listing with their mail preference service will stop 75% of all national mailings.
You may also want to contact your credit card companies, credit unions, mortgage company, all magazines you subscribe to, airline frequent flyer programs, cable TV company, long distance company and just about anyone who sends you a bill with your name on it, and tell them not to release your name, address or phone number to anyone else for marketing, mailing or promotional purposes. Again, by law they are required to respect your request.
One little known fact is, lists are often rented for one-time use, with the agreement that if someone responds in any manner, that name and address becomes the “property” of that company that rented the list and sent you snail mail or email. Therefore DO NOT respond any solicitations if it includes something to the effect of if you wish to be taken off our mailing lists, please contact us.
One last suggestion, If you’re opting out of junk mail solicitations, you need to provide them with the mailing address to be removed and with any different spellings of your name (ie: JR, III, Esq., real name vs. nickname).
Phone Number National Demographics and Lifestyles Co. Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of mail/phone solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
In the packaging of many products, often there is a product registration card enclosed. These cards, under the guise of helping the manufacture understand the needs of the consumer, in reality is just helping marketers target their products more specifically. In other words, every time you return a card that requires your name, address, etc., to register a product, chances are some company is building a consumer profile to target you.
Phone Number ATFA Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of mail/phone solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
The American Telephone Fundraisers Association’s Charitable-Telephone Preference Service is the big company for charities. Write to them and ask to be put on the list of consumers who do not wish to be contacted by telephone for charitable solicitations. This request should be good for three years.
GuideStar - offers reports that charities must file with the government
Phone Number American Family Publishers Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of mail/phone solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
Phone Number Publishers Clearinghouse Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of mail/phone solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
Phone Number Readers Digest Attn: Sweepstakes Notice is hereby given that I wish to be removed from all lists of mail/phone solicitation. Respectfully, Name |
| If you don’t want pre approved offers of credit, etc. (for two years) call the “Automated opt out request line” Phone (888) 5 OPT OUT or write the individual credit reporting agencies: Equifax Options Experian (formerly TRW) Trans Union Corporation OptOutPrescreen.com (Permanent Opt-Out) Sexually Oriented Advertising (SOA)The only help you’ll get from the Post Office in controlling junk mail is for explicit stuff. Fill out USPS forms 2150 or 2201 if you wish this type of mail to stop. RecycleSince the subject of recycling was mentioned, when a Nickel-Cadmium battery dies (such as the one in your cordless phone, cordless drill, etc.) don’t throw it in the trash. Instead call toll free 8-BATTERY or (800) 822-8837, for the name of a nearby store that will recycle old batteries. |
So ya like spamEver wonder how spamers get your email address? Well in many instances you freely give it to them, without intending to. Let me explain, say you like my site and I happen to have a guest book and ask for comments. It is only natural for someone who spent time creating a page/site to want some feed back. Suppose I had a great site on let’s say jazz music, and it attracts lots of traffic as indicated by a counter placed at the bottom of a page. A spamer might notice that you have a great site on jazz, and since you have a guest book, he/she knows that each individual who signs your guest book is interested in a specific type of music. It is not too difficult to write a program called a “Bot” to search the internet for a particular subject, find a guest book or log and download all the comments along with all the email addresses. Now if I were marketing jazz music, I would have have an easy time marketing my stuff to a specific audience. See how easy it is to get a specific marketing list if you are a spamer. We live in a world where information is a valuable commodity. With specific information, it is possible to target specific products at specific consumers. So if you like junkmail and spam, keep on volunteering personal information. If you realize that marketing ploys are are a waste of time and harmful to the environment, then keep personal information to yourself. In addition spam is result of jokes, virus hoaxes and myths that get passed around on the internet.
If you receive a message that is a verified hoax you can forward it to hoaxkill@hoaxkill.com and all enclosed email addresses will be notified (duplicates removed) so they can stop forwarding it. If you’re not sure if it’s a hoax, forward your email to hoaxcheck@hoaxkill.com and they will check it out for you (for free). AOL secretsAOL has instituted a yet another way to alienate their users! For years AOL has allowed it’s users to opt out of AOL marketing promotions, but that hurt the bottom line. Now when an AOL user decides to opt out they must renew their opt out preference every year. AOL insists that asking customers to reconsider their decision to opt out is simply part of providing good service. “We have a lot of terrific offers that we make exclusively to members...[and] It’s very attractive from a marketing viewpoint to reach over 19 million subscribers,” says spokeswomen Tricia Primrose. To get rid of those annoying ads when you log onto AOL, use the keyword, MARKETING PREFS. This will take you to a non-advertised area of AOL where you can tell them that you want:
Chances are your inbox is full of unwanted spam even when you set the MARKETING PREFS. The solution is to set your mail preferences (use the keyword: MAIL CONTROLS) to block email from specific addresses and domains. In addition you can set your mail preferences to reject email with a file attachment. The reverse filter that AOL offers can be used not to accept email at all from anyone except for the people you specifically allow. That way you won’t get any email from anyone you don’t know. If you intend to keep using AOL and want to take a proactive stance against spam, forward your junk mail to TOSspam, where it is analyzed to determine which sites should be blocked. For a list of blocked domains, use the keyword Preferred Mail. Content on AOL is censored, to find unrestrictive material change the AOL default webpage
FYI AOL Time Warner 6.0 promises to be the most comprehensive version yet, but the company seems to have nixed one feature from its Web browser: a home page button. That means AOL subscribers cannot set their own default home pages when connecting to the Internet through the online service. Can everyone say “The almighty dollar wins again!” To discourage monitoring, learn how to sign on as a “Ghost”
If you’ve decided AOL sucks but don’t want to give up particular features of AOL, you have a couple of options. If you’re addicted to Instant Messaging, AOL will let you download software that brings this feature. Like the AOL-only version, the IM software lets you create a “Buddy List” of friends, family members, and colleagues who also use Instant Messaging. If you’re hooked on AOL’s lame chat rooms, you can still access them without setting up a full-blown AOL account. For $9.95 a month, the Bring Your Own Access plan will give you all of AOL’s proprietary content, but not the Net access. Use the keyword BYOA to find out more about the plan. If you are not an AOL user, but get SPAM from an AOL address email AOL directly. Anatomy of an E-Mail HeaderWhether you see it or not, every e-mail message you get comes with a digital “paper trail” known as the e-mail header. Some mail administrators (such as your Internet service provider or your IS manager) may trim these before they reach you, but you see them when others forward you mail. E-mail headers tell you where the message came from, what machines it traveled through in its journey from the sender’s mail server to your own. This information is usually discarded and ignored, but you should look for it when you want to track down the source of an insistent spammer.  To view a message’s header in Netscape Messenger, select View, Headers, All. In Outlook Express, open the message, select File, Properties, and click the Details tab. In Eudora simply press the button labeled Blah Blah at the top of the message. Reading message headers is an art, because sophisticated spammers can forge certain elements to obscure their trail. Home-Made Spam FilterSince most spammers send their messages to mailing lists, just set your mail client to reject any message not intended for you personally. In Messenger 4.x, press Ctrl-Shift -1 to go to Message Center, and select Edit, Message Filters. Name the filter, and then click the down arrow next to all fields in the next line to create an expression that reads “the TO of the message doesn’t contain address@server.com.” In Eudora (version 3 or higher), select Tools, Filters and click next to Incoming. Under Header, select To. Then, in the next line, select Doesn't Contain, and type your e-mail address. Under Action, select Transfer. Click the box to the right of that field and select the mailbox where you want junk mail to be deposited while it awaits future perusal (or deletion). For more information check out “Using Target-Revokable E-mail Addresses to Protect You against E-Mail Spamming.” The newest spam scam: dotless IP addressesDotless IP addresses, hide the location of the spammer’s Web site, thwart antispam software, and could even leave your machine open to attack. Suppose you have an invitation to visit a site, say, to buy Viagra or view porn. But instead of supplying a standard URL, the email contains a dotless IP address - so named because it lacks the dots found in standard URLs (such as www.unpretentious.com) and IP addresses (like 209.153.199.2). Instead, dotless URLs employ a series of numbers and/or percent signs (for example, http://22@3491809168 or http%3a%2f%2f22%403491809168). Using Whois a UNIX command it is possible to determine several things about the URL domain name, such as who administers a particular site and the names of the administrative and technical contacts. With DNS or the Domain Namer Server, you have a simple tool that transfers numbers into names, and names into numbers. Dotless addresses make hunting down the location or registered owner of a scam site much harder unless you know about UNIX tools such as traceroute which shows the route packets take to network host. Problems occur when Micro$oft’s IE 4.x encounters a dotless address, since it treats the URL as if it resided on your company intranet. Depending on your browser security settings, this could make your PC vulnerable to hostile applets. But what do I care since I use a Mac and Netscape. Bottom line if you see a dotless IP address link, use common sense and don’t click on it. |
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