Is it OK to email those who send us Spam?
Michael C asked:
Even with two firewalls, two antivirus programs, AWC I still get spam. So I started replying to them advertising my e-commerce businesses and then putting their address in a special folder called “Spammed.” Considering they emailed me first and I replied am I braking any laws or is what I am doing spamming?
Interesting enough two people have ask me to remove their address from my list. Is that not funny?
I now include them in all my email campaigns and have sold product to one of them. So is this type of marketing OK?
Even with two firewalls, two antivirus programs, AWC I still get spam. So I started replying to them advertising my e-commerce businesses and then putting their address in a special folder called “Spammed.” Considering they emailed me first and I replied am I braking any laws or is what I am doing spamming?
Interesting enough two people have ask me to remove their address from my list. Is that not funny?
I now include them in all my email campaigns and have sold product to one of them. So is this type of marketing OK?
Posted on December 2nd, 2008 in Other - Internet |
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Two main points:
1. If you reply to SPAM you are almost certainly going to get more as they realize that you are an actual person. Do not reply to SPAM! To answer your question though, no, it is not illegal or SPAMming to reply.
2. If you are asked by someone to remove their email address you are bound to do so (sounds like you are). I would not stoop to the SPAMmers level and follow suit, but that is a decision you’ll need to make.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
slightly irrelevent but look at this site: lots of scam emails and scambaiting, quite amusing
December 9th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
A firewall will not stop spam, nor will an antivirus program. You need an anti-spam solution to stop spam.
Emailing spammers confirms that your address is valid and has it added to a lot more spammer databases.
If you are sending unsolicited commercial emails, which you are, to these people, regardless of what they have sent to you first, then depending on the applicable laws, you may well be breaking the Law. I know for a fact that what you are doing is considered illegal in Australia - we have some of the best anti-spam laws down here, unlike the lax ones in the US.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am
I got into trouble for this once but I didn’t keep the original email in the reply so be sure to do that
Also remember some spam is due to bots taking over someone’s computer. They are innocent victims as well
Rick
December 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I think it’s not illegal as long as you add an option link in your email (even in very tiny letters) so that the person can remove himself from your emailing list, and you should do so if he asks.
Similarly, most advertisers have that link in their emails. So if you want to get rid of their emails, look for that option in their message and click on it.