It’s another phishing scam but one that slipped through many spam filters.

It purports to be from the Better Business Bureau website but has a non specific reply address “manager@bbb.org”.

It arrives unsolicited to businesses who do not even use the BBB services.

And it arrives addressed generically to “Sirs”.

When called the phone number was disconnected early in the day and had a recorded message warning against this email later in the day warning against clicking the link or opening attachments.

The Better Business Bureau does try to resolve disputes between consumers and businesses, but only contacts businesses with a prior relationship.

If so, you’re not the first – though that is cold comfort indeed.

What do your fellow online marketers feel are the best CPA (Cost Per Action) networks?

Is it worth signing up with one or more?

You can see what others are saying about this topic (and rate your experience) at the Performance Marketing Insider Review page..

If you’re working to make money online, it’s worth checking out before you invest lots of effort working for an unscrupulous CPA company.

The “Epsilon” theft of corporate email information means that your personal email is now available to any number of crooks who wish to pose as company you have actually done business with at some time in the past.

Here’s how Marriott – one of the victims of the theft – is alerting their customers.

Bottom line:  Don’t “verify” personal information. It’s a trick.

April 4, 2011

Dear Marriott Customer,

We were recently notified by Epsilon, a marketing vendor used by Marriott International, Inc. to manage customer emails, that an unauthorized third party gained access to a number of Epsilon’s accounts including Marriott’s email list.

In all likelihood, this will not impact you. However, we recommend that you continue to be on the alert for spam emails requesting personal or sensitive information. Please understand and be assured that Marriott does not send emails requesting customers to verify personal information.

We take your privacy very seriously. Marriott has a long-standing commitment to protecting the privacy of the personal information that our guests entrust to us. We regret this has taken place and apologize for any inconvenience.

Here is an updated list of affected companies:

• Target
• Best Buy
• Walgreen’s
• Capital One
• TiVo
• JP Morgan Chase & Co.
• Kroger
• US Bank
• Citi
• McKinsey & Company
• Ritz-Carlton Rewards
• Marriott Rewards
• New York & Company
• Brookstone
• The College Board
• Home Shopping Network (HSN)
• LL Bean
• Disney Destinations
• Barclays Bank of Delaware

Basically a dude has been charging $250 to $500 for a solo ad to an opt-in list with 50,000 subscribers.

There’s just one problem: There is no list.

Whenever you purchase advertising, you have these dreams of actually making sales and at least getting your ad money back.

That’s hard enough when you actually send an ad out to a list … of course when there’s no list it’s a guaranteed impossibility.

You can see one variation of the scam here from the (now banned) participant: Scam

Here are all the details…

From Idexpertscorp.com

Scammers are finding new ways to get your personal information and now they are invading your cell phone. It’s called SMISHING. They send text messages to your cell phone making false claims to obtain personal information.

The most common SMISHING scam so far is a text message claiming your bank account is frozen, and a toll free number is provided to call to clear things up.

If you get a “SMISHING” text remember these tips:

1. Do not reply to the message. It could be a test to see if your number is active, which could result in more unwanted messages.

2. Call your bank immediately. Financial institutions do not communicate with their customers through a text message.

3. Call your cell phone provider and have them put a block on premium text messages.

This morning, I received an email, purportedly from Amazonasking me to  check the status of my order. Since I did place an order with Amazon 2 weeks ago, I did not delete that email …

But it turn out to a scam/phish!

The site is at: acmszon.com – a mispelt version of amazon.com!

(the site was registered on 20th Dec)

I’ve posted more details, including a screenshot at my blog: http://easybiztools.com/blog

Stay Safe and alert your friends!

With the holiday season/Christmas round the corner, many people may fall for this phish.

The federal bureau of investigation (FBI).Through our intelligence-monitoring network has discovered that the transaction that the bank contacted you previously was legal.Recently the fund has been legally approved to be paid via Central Bank of Nigeria.

So, we, the federal bureau of investigation (FBI) Washington Dc, in conjunction with the United Nations (UN) financial department have investigated through our monitoring network noting that your transaction with the Central Bank of Nigeria legal.

You have the legitimate right to complete your transaction to claim your fund US$10,700,000.00 (Ten million Seven Hundred Thousand united states dollars) Because of so much scam going on in Nigeria.We the federal bureau of investigation decided to contact the Federal High Court of Nigeria for them to give us their procedures on how to release the document for the claiming of the
money to you without any further complain or delay. We just got an information from the Central Bank of Nigeria and they have loaded your US$10,700,000.00 in ATM CARD and submit to the Federal High Court of Nigeria for immediate provision of the document for your name to appear on the document for the money.

In possibly the most ballsy attempt to recoup money lost in an (alleged) Ponzi scheme, a group of Californians pretended to be FBI agents, held up a hedge fund, and demanded their money back.

All I can say is that if this ever catches on, watch out “Internet Marketing GURUs”! You dang well better live on some island somewhere! Some folks may be getting ideas!

Oh wait! It’s the guys posing as cops that are the only ones going to jail right now. Definitely a downer.

Maybe the internet scammers are safe for another day…

Read it all here

There’s a problem out there.

Scammers posing as “Internet Marketing Gurus” are sucking thousands of dollars out of the pockets of unsuspecting and often desperate people on their last leg financially.

That happens with all sorts of “business opportunities”.

Internet marketing is an especially lucrative field though because the products are normally “digital”… 100% profit… not even paper and ink to smudge your fingers!

They prey upon your desire to live the Great American Dream for yourself.

They paint an amazing picture.

By the time they’re done, you’ll believe that just before you started reading their sales letter they were a penniless janitor without two nickels to rub together. In fact, they didn’t even have pockets to put the nickels in!

But after sharing the same frustration YOU had at all the failed methods, all the lies you’ve been told, and all the people bent on robbing you of success, they’ll tell you how they discovered a little known niche that they are going to share with you along with a few million select friends.

The initial price will seem reasonable, then once you buy you’ll be pitched deal after deal after deal promising more and more and making your feel like a more and more useless fool if you dare click “No thanks I realize I’m dooming myself to a perpetual penniless hell if I do not part with every cent you claim I need to spend!”

Of course this a letter written by the guy who wrote something very similar for the last 20 little products and charged $5,000 per campaign for the privilege of making you believe you could beat the system just by opening your wallet… almost no work required you know!

And even though you know what the technique is, the possibility that you could live the “Internet Lifestyle” overwhelms your good sense.

After all who WOULDN’T want to wake up at Noon, work 10 minutes checking your stats, clicking a few buttons and spend the rest of the day surfing or sipping mixed drinks on the beach?

Unfortunately that too can be a complete lie… in fact you’re about to learn the name of a man who made his money selling the internet lifestyle while actually living a lie.

Interested? Check out :How To Keep Internet Marketing Guru’s From Ripping You Off – it’s TOTALLY FREE!

Want more? Read the rest of : How To Keep Internet Marketing Guru’s From Ripping You Off | ChuckHuckaby.com http://www.chuckhuckaby.com/special-offers/internet-marketing-gurus-ripping-you-off

Business Insider considers it “Great Marketing” … I guess they’d applaud putting opium in children’s candy too as long as it made people buy more!

Here are their top 10 marketing ploys…

1. Greeting Cards,
2. Diamond Engagement Rings,
3. Bottled Water,
4. Ladies’ razors (can’t just have men shave!)
5. Jogging shoes
6. Cocaine and caffeine in consumer drinks (“Coke’s” original reason for success)
7. Paris Hilton sex tape (How else can you explain how a talentless bimbo gets jobs?)
8. Claiming Listerine is as good as flossing
9. Mandatory “Coffee Breaks” to sell more coffee
10. Adding nicotine to cigarettes

In case offering superior value at a reasonable price doesn’t work for you… take your clue from the kings of crass.