You Spammed The Wrong Girl
As an advice columnist and blogger, I get e-mail for a living, and I'm deluged. I answer almost every advice request I get (or, when I'm really snowed, as many as humanly possible). Every moment I spend dealing with spam is a moment I'm not spending answering my mail. And those moments add up. In other words, spammers are time and resource thieves, and nobody gets to steal from me and get away with it if I can help it.
Well, it came as a surprise yesterday when a spammer, apparently in the MLM business, not only thought he could mass-hijack others' time and e-mail boxes to increase his sales, but also gave clear contact information for his spam-ees to reach him. And reach him I did.
Since he had no problem bothering perfect strangers, surely, he has no problem with perfect strangers calling to let him know how they feel about spam. Perhaps you'll want to give him a little jingle at the numbers below (both are mainland USA numbers), or take a moment to e-mail him. You might also want to pass on this link to your friends who have, say, an opinion or two about spam.
Here's his e-mail I got Sunday morning:
Greetings :My name is Michael Eisbrener and I am sorry for the unusual approach but I acquired your email address as a person who is actively involved or is looking for an online business opportunity. I did not get your personal permission to email you.
I would be grateful if you would allow me to send you details of an opportunity that I am involved in. I did not want to send you any details until I had mailed you to seek your permission first, as experience has taught me that not all leads that I acquire are genuine Opportunity Seekers. If this is the case for you then please ignore this email as you have already been excluded from future mailing from me.
If however, it is ok to send you details of my opportunity then please visit (URL REMOVED!) and leave your information. You will see the details of my program.
I work at home full time and what I show is what is working for me. Unfortunately it doesn't work for everyone, at least not so far. It does save everyone more than they spend. Many people become only a customer.
So why not give it a try?...the information is FREE anyway!...
Just give me a chance to show you a program that will make you money in the next week and months ahead.It's easy to get started. Click my e-mail address link for one e-mail.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you very much for your time.
My highest regards,
Michael J. Eisbrener (Google search)
651-393-2838 (voicemail) or 305-421-3165 (the guy came on the line here)
mykleone@yahoo.comYou are TIRED of all opportunity e-mails? Click the remove link below and I will put you into two LARGE Global remove lists and my own personal one.
Just click REMOVE ME
Yeah, right. So, I should have to work to remove his marketing turds from the lawn of my life? Nuh-uh...especially since that's a way spammers and junk faxers know they have a "live one" at a particular address.
First, I called the 605 number. Voicemail. The 305 number gets him on the phone.
I let him know I'm, well, unhappy about receiving his spam.
"Are you in marketing?" he asks.
I tell him it's none of his business what I do. I make the point that it's unethical for him to take my time to advertise his business, to have me pay for his marketing costs. He laughs that I'm wasting my time even further and tells me "No, you're unethical."
Why am I unethical, I ask him?
"Because you claim other people are unethical."
(Well, if it isn't Staggering Genius, Inc.) I tell him that's not an explanation. I press for an explanation that actually explains something. He keeps on keeping on on why *I* am actually the unethical one.
He gives the childhood rationale that whenever you point a finger, three fingers point back at you.
And yes, he sounded like an adult male, not an 8-year-old boy.
I repeat my contention that it's wrong for him to offload his marketing costs on others, taking my time and using my e-mail address.
He again laughs that I'm wasting my time. Well, yes, in trying to reason with him. I tell him I am, at the moment, just trying to be ethical and get his side of the story. The guy says, "You have a definition of unethical that's obtuse to the world."
I doubt that. I think most people just let themselves be bullied, spammed, and otherwise taken advatage of a little more than I'm willing to let myself be. That said, I don't pick my ethical standards by popular vote.
The guy claims he only gets e-mail addresses from people who've asked for information on his site. I give him my e-mail address and tell him to send me the IP it was left from. He says he'll get back to me very soon.
The thing is, I've been list-served spammed before, and when somebody does this maliciously, they don't do it on one obscure site, and they send stuff from the nastiest sites possible -- KKK, Lyndon Larouche, and steak and lobster sites (who would think I'm some vegan, I have no idea, but there you have it). I got no slew of e-mails, only this one. You be the judge. I mean, if you don't think your notion of what's ethical is too "obtuse," like mine.
Of course, a suggestion that he's lying about where he got my e-mail address is in the first paragraph of his e-mail:
I did not get your personal permission to email you.
Again, you be the judge. If you talk to the guy or leave a message, post a comment here. And please encourage others to link to this blog item. Only by demanding accountability will anybody be accountable.
The guy e-mails me back:
In a message dated 8/13/06 10:13:19 AM, meisbrener@gmail.com writes:
Amy, I apologize. I just looked up your email address on the list I purchased from who I thought was a reputable list broker.I e-mail him back:
I do open the contents and look at the first page or so of email files to insure the data I require is there. Your list, a substantial list, is full of emails that are not substantiated with date and ip address. ONLY THE First 300 are actually usable. The entire rest of the list is just email addresses and had I taken a better look I would have deleted the entire list. Fortunately for me I sent to only a small portion. Thank you for helping me uncover a potentially serious problem.
I have deleted the list, added your email to my remove file and to two global remove lists I work with.
My highest regards,
Michael J Eisbrener
305-421-3165
It would have been nice if you'd come clean on the phone instead of suggesting I'd left a comment on your site asking you to contact me. P.S. Lying is unethical.I've been list-serve spammed before, and it's always from hate sites, never people trying to sell their services. What list service is selling my name? I want that information so I can track people who serve spammers. Please send the name and contact information.
Why do you think it's ethical at all to spam people? Your logic that my definition of unethical is "obtuse" isn't logical at all. What person wants to use their time opening their e-mail to make your marketing costs cheaper?
I'm glad I could help you figure out that this wrong, but doesn't this fall under "do unto others"? Why didn't you figure out that "cheaper and easier" doesn't translate into ethical without my help? I await your reply.
PS Are you now going to stop spamming to lists you buy as a marketing choice entirely? I'd be very interested to know.
I await your reply. -Amy Alkon
I'm still awaiting. And awaiting. Something tells me he's realized he can't just throw around illogic combined with words like "obtuse" and get away with it, at least, not with me. Since he got back pretty fast after my telephone call, and not to this e-mail, I suspect one of two things: 1. It's Sunday and he's out for the day, or 2. He doesn't have a valid answer to my question in the PS:
Are you now going to stop spamming to lists you buy as a marketing choice entirely?
Yoohoo, Mr. Eisbrener?
I'm not surprised you're not responding, but I at least deserve to know who sold you my e-mail so I can have it removed from their list...and invoice them, to boot, for using my attention as sales bait.
And let me encourage everybody: The only way people are going to stop abusing our privacy, our peace and quiet, our safety, and the rest is if we speak up when they do it. Tell them we refuse to be abused.
Hey, spammers: there's a reason I pay for an Internet connection and maintain an e-mail address and it isn't so I can play a really fun game trying to pick my personal e-mail out from the pyramid schemes, Nigerian 419s, etc.
Okay, this is just one guy and one little e-mail. But, maybe if he's chastened, and he tells two spam-happy marketing friends, and so on, and so on...
P.S. Interestingly, the guy's IP address resolves to Medellin, Columbia.
And then there was a letter to the editor from a Michael J. Eisbrener in Medillin, Columbia, in some Christian journal.
Yet his phone number has a Miami area code. His voicemail area code is from St. Paul, Minnesota. I find this a bit odd. Perhaps his phone bounces to Colombia. If so, I hope it costs him when people from the USA call. Just a wee lesson for our pal, who's probably a bit surprised one of his marks had such an easy time reversing the charges on spam.
You know how it goes, Mr. E -- "whenever you point a piece of"...junk e-mail, three pieces of junk e-mail (or junk phone calls) point back at you."
Or something like that.
200.116.182.110 is assigned by LACNIC , the Latin American & Caribbean Internet Address Registry.
LACNIC records say that this is one of 17 assigned to:
Empresas Publicas De Medellin
Carrera 77 39b-16
940 - Medellin
phone: +57 4 4152280
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at August 14, 2006 6:53 AM
It's easy to have a phone number with any area code you want - any VOIP service (Vonage. etc.) offers that feature for cheap.
anonymous at August 14, 2006 9:40 AM
Interesting. I hate that you had to spend any time dealing with such an idiot. I hope he does receive a bunch of prank calls to his listed number. Karma is a bitch afterall.
claudia at August 14, 2006 5:48 PM
I saw a shy girl I know today who said she was tempted to call him. I hope people do.
Amy Alkon at August 14, 2006 5:55 PM
Thank you for all the advertising. Every 'little' bit helps.
Michael Eisbrener at September 8, 2006 10:06 AM
This guy called ME today claiming that I was a spammer! Since I have caller-id, i googled his number and found this site. Thank-you for the information about him - However, he now knows my number is a 'live' number!
Julie at February 11, 2008 12:55 PM
Amy,
Thank you for keeping this up for me! Our interaction helped end the period when I bought leads and added them to multiple autoresponders. It was difficult two years ago and now it would be almost impossible to work from home with those ‘services’. The real spammers don't leave legit info or any way for them to be contacted. ISP's have so screwed up email that the only people who get through the filters today are the spammers. Anyone purchasing lead lists, even so called good ones, is a spammer.
Everyone I send an email now has had to leave their information at one of my sites requesting more information. I don't even call people. They call me. Yes I live in South America. Yes I have multiple phone numbers in the US and Europe that ring at my desk and all of it costs less than $50 a month for unlimited world wide calling. The planet has gotten a lot smaller and the ability to earn a living has improved for anyone who wants to make it happen on their terms.
Keep up the good work.
Michael Eisbrener
My numbers have not changed.
Michael Eisbrener at April 28, 2008 12:32 PM
I received this wierd email to day I removed my phone number he had it somehow. I think this must be the same man, same phone number I have no idea where he got my email address and phone number
See email below I have removed my name and phone number
Thank you for opening my email xxxxx!
Awhile back you left your personal data asking for more information… If we exchanged information I missed it. May we begin again?
There is a simple, easy to use system you can go to work with right away. You can add real income to your bank your first week and the support is excellent.
This is the only One TIME Offer I will send to you. [You likely won’t see an email from me ever again unless you reply now asking "Where do I start?"]
NO Lies – NO Hype - Remarkable system.
Easily promote this and watch what people will do with it! Or we do the promotion and you handle the rewards.
… Reply now asking “Where do I start?”
May I still call you at xxxxxxxxxx?
Michael Eisbrener
305-421-3165 [call me and leave a message if I don’t answer.]
lynne at January 7, 2011 5:30 PM
Just received the same email you did. I replied and said that from what I could see on advicegodess.com I wouldn't be needing his services:)
Tammy at February 12, 2011 5:22 AM
Yay, Tammy! Weirdly, the guy is now following me on Twitter.
@Iceburner
Michael Eisbrener | Medellìn Colombia SA
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone-we find it with another. - Thomas Merton about 16 hours ago
Amy Alkon at February 12, 2011 7:18 AM
You are my hero, Amy!
P.S. Eisbrener's lame attempt to claim victory over his outing is nothing short of the rantings of a 7 year-old boy who has been found out for doing something naughty but is now throwing a tantrum. He was likely raised by parents who spent 100% of their time offering him fake praise for every little thing but could never once show him the difference between right & wrong. Look at the end result. :-( Now as an "adult" (in quotes for a reason), his moral compass is stuck on stupid. He's nothing short of a low-rent con-artist, one who will undoubtedly end up in prison one day. He'll plead "Not Guilty" but a jury of his peers will disagree ... and of course they'll be wrong ... at least in the eyes of Dear Michael.
Robert W. at February 12, 2011 8:15 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2006/08/you-spammed-the.html#comment-1842849">comment from Robert W.Thanks so much, Robert W.
Amazingly (or rather, actually not) the guy - from Twitter - is now suggesting that I'm rude. Because...the polite thing to do is let yourself be abused?
If you're my good friend and you have cancer, I'll take care of you. If you're my neighbor and your mom is dying of cancer (unfortunately, actually in progress), I'll tell you to not to bother moving your two cars before you go to the airport, and I'll move both (for street cleaning) and move them back. If you're somebody who's stealing the time, attention, or good night's sleep of the rest of us, watch the hell out, because I'm going to give you a hard time and publish it in a book or on the Internet to show the world what a thieving pig you are.
Amy Alkon at February 12, 2011 9:23 AM
I'm wondering why he didn't use the "I'm rubber, you're glue," line. I would take him following you on Twitter as a sign that you called him on his crap and he respects you. Consider it having a new fan.
Kristen at February 12, 2011 9:30 AM
This Michael Eisbrener is a [NSFW]ing [NSFW]! He can drop dead for all I care.
mpetrie98 at February 12, 2011 11:16 AM
This is what I got.
Hello SHANNON,
Let me apologize for this method of contact. You are on my list of people who were looking for additional sources of income in the past. Is that still true?
Our business team is expanding and is looking for two people near the %city% area who could benefit from our mentorship. I wanted to know if you keep your options open for other sources of income. Are you Creating for extra income outside of your full time work, which can be done part time? Call me and I’ll talk you through a website for more information.
If you would like to call me please contact me at 305-421-3165. I am near the phone during normal hours and if you go to voice mail leave me a message and I will call you back.
Or to get more information please email me, reply with Send Me Your Info, verify your phone number with the best times to reach you and / or I can contact you via email. I look forward to beginning a prosperous conversation.
%replace_to your success%.
Michael Eisbrener
305-421-3165
michael@eisbrener.com
PS You may choose to ignore this but it is the only email we will send.
Shannon at April 1, 2011 10:29 PM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2006/08/you-spammed-the.html#comment-1992990">comment from ShannonI like to call these people at 3 a.m.
Amy Alkon at April 2, 2011 4:30 AM
Yo, sin duda, deseaba subir un reconocimiento que significa para todos los que apreciamos una contribución gloriosa hemos estado en la pantalla www.advicegoddess.com. Mi meter internet ha ampliado de inmediato ha sido famosa con grandes estrategias para ir con mis amigos, así como de la familia. nos demuestran que la mayoría de nosotros los visitantes, sin duda, han sido esencialmente consagrado a existir en un pueblo con gente muy conspicua más puro con toques rentable. nos sentimos realmente agradecidos de haber detectado sus páginas web, así como descarada actitud a la mayoría de lo que algunos-más minutos celebración extraordinaria de una masa de aquí. Gracias de nuevo por todo un detalle.
Clen at November 30, 2011 1:52 PM
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