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Into My Spam:Pick-Your-Apple.co.uk
Spam time! No, not that delicious, spiced ham-based product, but in fact the part of the blog where I delve into my Gmail spam folder, and see what ‘delights’ await. Because of the way this kind of spam is mass-produced (like the other kind is) it’s likely you may find the same Spam as what lurks in my Gmailso if your unsure wether or not the spam contains any genuine good offers or is a con, stay tuned. Now occasionally it could actually be a delight that’s in my spam folder, when something that is not in fact spam, is in the spam section. But more often than not, I find Gmail gets it right.
By the way, does anyone else take issue with the fact the term Spam used to describe emails you don’t want, is named after this lovely product:
OK, so what I did was to think of the first number that popped into my head (it was 4), open my spam folder and find the spam in the position of the selected number (so the 4th spam down in the list).
So, the fourth spam was this email:
Let’s see where this email takes us today. Todays email is titled Congratulations. You are exclusively selected. Ohh. I wonder what I have been selected for. A chance to meet the cast of Doctor Who? A chance to meet Kylie Minogue backstage? A chance to be on ITV‘s Loose Women panel for a day? So many possibilities. I’ll open the email to find out. OK opened. In the box at the top I note this message:
You have received this email because you requested to receive 123Greetings Newsletters, Updates, Special Offers and Promotions. We wish to present you with some Special Offers from our sponsors.
You are subscribed as stuwieben@gmail.com, to unsubscribe please visit here.
And at the bottom of the email it says
- This is a special offer sent by 123Greetings on behalf of our sponsor
- If you need any help about 123Greetings Special Offers. Press here to visit our FAQ section.
- 123Greetings values your privacy. Please visit here to view our Privacy Policy.
Press on the link below to Opt-out from our mailing list.
http://www.sploffs1.com/cgi-bin/remove.pl?email=stuwieben@gmail.com&type=13560C- You may also Opt-out by replying to this mail with “Unsub” in the Subject line.
Copyright 1996-2012 123Greetings. All rights reserved. 1674 Broadway, Suite 403, New York, NY 10019.
So, we can see where the source of our message comes from. If you are a member of 123 Greetings you may also find yourself receiving the email in today’s post (though you’ll find even if you’re not, it’s still very likely this kind of offer emails tend to be used with a large amount of websites).
It starts with a classic ‘Hello’. Then it goes on to say ‘Congratulations’. Congratulations as in I have won something? I’m pregnant? Or maybe, they were about to burst out into Cliff Richard’s Eurovision 1968 entry, then after the first lyric, decided against it. We’d better find out. It goes on to say that my eMail has been exclusively selected. It’s in bold, so it must be important. Next it tells me ‘well done-you made it!’ (I didn’t do anything). Now we have been given a URL: www.pick-your-apple.co.uk
Why have I been presented with this URL? Oh look underneath, I think their going to explain. ‘You have qualified for the Free Choice sweepstake and are therefore amongst the chosen few entering the final draw to win an Apple product: iPhone 5-iMac-New iPad-MacBook Air!’
Wow, I’m one of the chosen few, so my chances of winning will be largely increased. I’m so excited I have the Winner Takes It All song playing in my mind. Quick let me know how to participate.
‘Participate now and CHECK HERE. IMPORTANT: This is a limited offer and is strictly limited to newsletter recipients. Remember, you are one of the few selected, therefore your chances to win are very high.’ Well you don’t have to tell me twice.
‘Registration is only possible till 30.09.2012 at 23:59’. Quick what’s the time and date? By my watch the time is 2:56pm on the 27.09.2012. That means I only have 3 days to register. OK, well I have the link they gave me loaded, so let’s sort the registration out. Here’s the site the provided link took me too:
If you visit the site you’ll note that in a nice animation the apple products are growing out of a tree (which they soon probably will be in real life), and beside that animation you’ll see a basket. It says at the top ‘PICK YOUR PRIZE AND WIN!’ Oh so once I pick a prize I win-it’s a guarantee? Well that sounds good. Hmm what should I pick, they all look good. I think I’ll go with the iPad. Though of course I love all products with ‘i’ before them.
Now I have clicked the iPad to win, it has gone into my basket and it’s loading a new page. Ah a form. Still, though if I’m guaranteed a iPad, I don’t mind filling in a form.
Ah now before I do, I noticed a small bit of very tiny writing, I’ll just read it:
I agree that the competition’s host and its prize sponsors may contact me by email, phone, text or post with more interesting offers. I can withdraw from this at anytime. For more information please click here. Entry to the competition without acceptance to the receipt of advertising via E-Mail or telephone is only possible for written entries.
Clicking the ‘prize sponsors’ link shows a list of, yes that’s right, the prize sponsors. I’ll now click the ‘For more information please click here’ part. OK, I’ll agree with those terms, and the rest of the t&c’s. Underneath it says:
Tick here and join Motor Companion now and win the season’s must-haves for any car enthusiast, ranging from Sat Navs, Parrots Audio, Servicing, Tyres and Alloy Wheels to Supercar Driving Experience Days, including driving a Ferrari 360M! This is a subscription service at £3/month and will cost your std network rate to join plus £1.50. http://www.motorcompanion.com for more information. I agree to the T&Cs
I think I’ll skip that (£36 a year, +£1.50/standard network charge sign up fee) offer on this occasion.
OK, details filled in, let’s submit the page and win myself a iPad. Think with an iPad, I’ll now be able to view my spam in tablet form. OK submitted and……oh. Theirs a survey. But I don’t remember that being mentioned earlier. Still, theirs no way companies can ever be misleading so, maybe I just forgot about their being a survey. OK, I’ll fill it in. Done. Submitted. And……another page of questions. Ah. This page is on offers. Some of which are already ticked. So, I’ll just untick them, as currently I didn’t want to sign up to any offers. OK that page submitted we have:
Congratulations! You have now received an email from Jane@pick-your-apple.co.uk, so you can validate your participation.
As a final treat – choose one of these offers:
Oh good the bold writing is back, so back to the important stuff. And another treat! I have already won an iPad. Now they want to give me another treat, how nice. OK, so the treat is from the choice of either a voucher or another apple product. Wow, they must have a lot of iPad‘s to give away. Hmmm. I like the idea of another apple product, and of course adding an ‘i’ to a product does improve it, but I think I’ll try a voucher this time, so I’ll click the corresponding link. I’m taken to this page:
But that isn’t a voucher. In fact it’s for the chance to win another apple product, but this time with a subscription service that would cost £5 per week. I’m sure it’s just an honest mistake. I know when they send me my confirmation of wining an iPad, I’ll mention about the voucher in a reply email. I’m sure their have it sorted in no time. Better check if my email has arrived yet from jane@pick-your-apple.co.uk, so I can validate my participation. Not in my inbox. Ah it’s in my spam. Google must think it’s spam or something. Google how could you.
So it says:
Hello Ben Stuaty, (Google Chrome Autofilled the wrong surname should be ‘Stuart’, I seem to have the wrong details as default in Autofill :))
Thank you very much for your participation in our
Prize Draw “Pick-Your-Apple”.You have been successfully registered.
Please confirm your participation in the draw by clicking on the following link:
http://www.pick-your-apple.co.uk/sc/%7BU%2181EwXRttLzRjHuhPcsDfsPeoRE%3Dpv%2B7LfSeD%2CNol%7DAfter the draw, which will be celebrated on the week following the 31/12/2012, the winner will be contacted by phone.
(Note: the prize will only be presented if winner’s data matches that of their ID or passport)The entire team wishes you good luck in this draw and thank you for your participation.
Your pick-your-apple.co.uk Team
PS: You have received this e-mail because you have registered on pick-your-apple.uk.
We always try to meet the highest quality standards. Should you have questions or complaints, please feel free to contact us. If you did not register with us, please click the following link to be removed from our system. Unfortunately, this also means you forfeit your chance to win.
http://www.pick-your-apple.co.uk/cgi-bin/r.pl?7214444k9xkjYcVh7YXcgOwImprint
Planet49 GmbH, Oberliederbacher Weg 25, 65843 Sulzbach, info@planet49.co.uk
Oh, so now I do have to take part in a draw to win an apple product, but I was getting the impression I had already won, but OK, so I’m in a draw. I’ll keep a look on this one and see if the draw does take place. It could be a genuine draw, but as you can see, Google mail has reasons for regarding it as spam, it has all the classic ‘marketing spam speak’ of trying to engage the reader with force claims and terminology of letting it seem like a prize is guaranteed. I’ll get back to you on the status of the prize draw.