I would also reccomend call the companies whose products are promoted Bogus Bonez and complaining. I know most the emails are not tracable but I have received junk from Gevallia and Thompsen Cigars with a Bonus Bonez tag. Let them know how disgusted you are that a supposedly reputable company would do business with Bonus Bonez and that you will no longer consider buying products from such a company.

I visited the Bonus Bonez website to unsubscribe, but was told that they’d “Be back later”, and I was unable to unsubscribe.

From the e-mails I’ve been receiving, it seems the companies have offices in Tampa and San Fransisco. I have no idea where they got my address though. I’m pretty careful with it.

THIS SITE IS NOT REGULAR SPAM.  I have read a number of negative reviews of this sight, however, all were pretaining to their free product incentive programs.  I signed up for their test panel without ever completing the gift incentive program.  I was given 4 software programs of questional usage to download and rate.  None of the program were too great.  I did receive a lot of spam.  HOWEVER, after completing a number of reviews on this “junk” software I was picked to test a USB Flash Drive.  No money out of pocket and a free flash drive are not a bad deal.  I called the number on the notification e-mail and got through to a real person.  You will get a lot of spam after signing up, but there are also real offers.

Regardless of the benefits, free products or whatever else they may give you, accepting their deal is validating spam as a marketing tool.

As long as they will profit in any way, be it through third or later parties, they will continue to flood our mailboxes with their shit. Even though you didn’t pay for anything this time around, the fact that you responded gives them the hope that they can dupe you with another of their offers. And if all else fails they already have the profit from selling your now validated email address.

It’s just my personal opinion, but it’s not worth it. If it wasn’t profitable to laden our mailboxes with their shit they wouldn’t do it.

I know it seems slight sometimes. I mean you can just create a junk hotmail account right? But it matters a great deal, holistically, in my thinking. You can’t hardly open your eyes anymore with without being assaulted by marketing. Road signs, magazines, TV, movies (the once hallowed realm now filled with brand feces), music, radio, web pages, walls. I mean seriously; Find a blank wall. If you can find one at all see how long it stays blank.

I know we need advertising. Companies need to make their products known. I respect that. However, for me, shoving your products in my face all but crushes that respect. I’d like some place clean...or at least see what I want to see and not what I’m forced to.

Sorry for the rant.

I have not received mail from BonusBonez lately....don’t know why.

In case people are still receiving some, here is some advice.

BonusBonez doesn’t really make it’s own product; it advertises other people’s products, by being an advertising affiliate.  Some of the companies advertised might be sleazy, others might be non-sleazy.

The url in BonusBonez mail points to these companies, with an affiliate ID; you can contact the company being advertised and mention that you are being spammed, which should be against the rules of the affiliate program.  Give the advertising url or affiliate ID, and perhaps the company will close the account that BonusBonez is using.

I have also been receiving my 10-per-hour daily quota of spam from Bonus Bonez.  I went to their site, and clicked on UNSUBSCRIBE out of sheer desperation.  So far (about 3 weeks) it seems to have worked.  You can also click on “Contact Us” where they claim they would LOVE to hear from you.  I’m sure you know just what they would LOVE to hear!!!  Come on guys, let’s treat them to a little taste of their own medicine!

I sent them the email below, got a reply within 24 hours and have had no mail off them since.

Hi,

Please remove my email address from your irritating and probably illegal
spamlist.

Thank you

There was an article in the NY Times about free stuff & mystery shopping. You can go to nytimes.com. I think it’s from 12/26/04. It’s in the business section.

New number for an admin who can connect to the bastards who run bonusbonez is: 415-901-9888.

I just called.  They seemed professional.

I refused to give my last name and phone number.  They wanted this to call me to confirm that I’m off their list.  I told them I’d know by the absence of their spam.

They seemed to react VERY quickly when I told them they were in violation of the CAN-SPAM act and that they could go to jail for sending me spam.

We’ll see if it works in the next few days.

Also, all of you anti-spammers ought to take a peek at this site: http://spammerpay.us/subscriberbase/CEASE-DESIST--12-30-2004.pdf

This is a cease and desist order to a spammer and describes some methods of tracing who is selling your email addresses to whom.  It is good reading and can teach all of us a bit about how this game works.

Enjoy,

-Erik

They have a new number and answer it as “Moxio”: 415 738-0516

Anyone know of http://www.harrisondm.com? They are spamming me now and strongly resemble the bonus bonez spamming site.

Thanks.

-E

Here is the LLC info for Greg Tseng, the top guy in the organization: http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowLpllcAllList?QueryLpllcNumber=200207410155

More updates: I spoke with Stanford’s physic’s department and they were VERY concerned about spam coming from someone who represents them.  As we know, Greg Tseng and Johan Schleier-Smith are PhD students from Stanford and they are on the board of Jumpstart Technologies, the umbrella organization above Bonus Bonez.

I received a call from Brenden.  The phone number he left was (415) 738-0516 which is the same in my post above that answered as “Moxio”.

Hey - is anyone reading this blog?  We can shut down these spammers if we put our minds to it.

I am still listening Erik, just been swamper with working from home and a two year old

Hi Bleu.  Tu est francais? 

Anyone know of these harrisondm.com guys?

DON’T DO IT!!!

I actually DID try ProductTestPanel.com stuff for a chance to get a savy iBook (with everything I wanted!). I fell into the trap and it’s a bunch of questions you have to answer. They say: all you have to do is pick any two free offers from the next 3 pages (each) and tha’s all! Well, the first page was simple, many offers, picked two that were free, totally free, the next page they were “free” but required shipping and handeling but it was like $5.00 so I did it anyway, and the very last page had only 3 offers, 1- a min $5,000 car loan, 2- a Mortgage or 3- A full 3-year contract with T-Mobile. Now that’s freaking scam! And you had to pick 2?? First of all, I don’t need a car or a house or a cell phone! But, i had already signed up for the rest, so they sent me the stuff and I cancelled on time, luckily, I still had to pay cancellation fees and stuff, but, it was a scam. DON’T DO IT! I din’t sign up for anything on that very last page, but, don’t try it! really! I can’t believe I did it!

I have a friend that works for Secret Shoppers and it’s really not a scam, so I thought this would be similar. Oh well.

RE PRODUCT TEST PANNEL SCAM

I’m pretty sure this thing is a scam. I received an email for a “free VAIO sony lap top” and knowing it’s never “free”, I read through all the instructions and disclaimers, and came to the conclusion that what I had to do was sign up for two “offers”, which I did, and then wait and see what happened. One of them was for a $25 order from PET SMART RX (which I always use anyway) and the other for a trial (free) period from Rhapsody music service. Of course, I haven’t heard a thing from them in the last week. I’ve emailed their “customer support” and the email where I received the message from, and haven’t heard a thing. My next line of action is to contact the two companies participating in these “offers” and see what their take on the situation is. Maybe if enough people start complaining to them, something might happen. Right. I’m so tired of these scams, and the only thing that’s more frustrating is that the companies who obviously give their permission for their logos and such to be used (knowing full well they’ll reap some financial gain) refuse to take any responsibility in the matter!

I’ve sent Godiva and a few others little notes that they are in violation of the CAN-SPAM and Nevada Anti-Spam laws and that they can be put in jail (not just fined) for this. 

They responded QUICKLY and said that they would talk with their contracted marketing people (out-of-house spammers).  It’s a start.

I suggest contacting the companies.

I signed up for the service. I followed the rules to the letter. They never responded with any free gift. I did recieve tons of spam email, junk snail mail, telemarketing phone calls and all the subscriptions that I had to sign up for in order to get the supposed free gift. Thankfully I had used bogus info.
I had purchased a bogus credit card which to these idiots would appear real since they aren’t smart enough to do tracebacks, I had a phone line, email and mail address all setup similar to how you would setup a honey pot to trap bonehead hackers.
Needless to say the pinhead running the service is now under investigation by the FBI.  That will teach them to accept money from Osama Bin laden.

I sent an email to email you guys provided and it bounced back does anyone else have an other email for this bastards.

You guys are so fucking stupid.  It you read the terms and conditions which you are required to agree to prior to registering it will tell you exactly how the program works.  I checked these guys out before sigining up and I just wanted to say that I just received both my HDTV and my bonus notebook.  All it took was a little time and signing up for 6 advertiser offers.  God if only people would read.

You guys are so fucking stupid.  It you read the terms and conditions which you are required to agree to prior to registering it will tell you exactly how the program works.  I checked these guys out before sigining up and I just wanted to say that I just received both my HDTV and my bonus notebook.  All it took was a little time and signing up for 6 advertiser offers.  God if only people would read.

Your gifts don’t change the fact that you are propigating the filth. Regardless of anything else it only remains a valid marketing tactic as long as people use it.

I really think that last person was right. It’s not really a scam after all. All you would have to do is complete 6 offers then they’ll give you your free gift. Right now I heard you can get a free bonus gift. I think I’ll give it a try and if it doesn’t work, then I’ll just say that its a scam.

Lilly is right, mostly, so I’ll echo her comment.

DON’T DO IT!!!

I apparently am a sucker. I was scanning my “bulk” box for anything that may have been inadvertently filtered and the PTP (PayToPlay is a better description than ProductTestPanel) message caught my eye.

I’d been wanting a Digital EOS system, and thought I caould swing whatever trials they threw at me. That last page is a killer. I need to spend the value of my “free” gift and I’d still have to fill out a survey and get spam?

Not 3100dy likely.

Save your money. Do your research. Buy what you really want, because there is no free lunch. And most of all, don’t open email from names, addresses, or people you don’t know.

My vent is over. Peace

You Evil Bastards don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. But here is a public domain internet sourced dossier on your boys. Have fun…

--------------< D O S S I E R >---------------
Consumer Research Corporation
Started: July 1, 2004
Subscriberbase, Inc. (SUBSCRIBERBASE HOLDINGS, INC.)
Started: July 24, 2004

JEFFREY L FRENCH - CEO
BRIAN N BENENHALEY (FREE SLIDE INC.) - Gen’l Counsel
3830 FOREST DR SUITE 207
COLUMBIA SC 29204
Phone: 803-790-8381 Fax: 202-478-0282
(Richland County)

Techies:
Liester, Andrew
aka or brother Jason Liester 803-790-8381 ext. 24
Yacoubian, Dikran

Look out for new website:
http://www.addrive.com

LOCATION: SC Route 12 (Forest Acres Section)
Near intersection of North Beltline Blvd SC Rt 16
Sat Photo: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3830+FOREST+DR+29204
Better Sat Photo: http://tinypic.com/hrwyg8.gif
----------------------
WHITE PAGES:
Jeff French?
563 Rapids Rd
Columbia, SC 29212-3016
Home Phone: 803-561-9527
-----------------------
Benny Benenhaley? (relative?)
3060 Gainous Rd
Sumter, SC 29150
Home Phone: 803-499-3014
-----------------------
Brian N. Benenhaley,
1995 Chief of Staff South Carolina Student Legislature
P.O. Box 41
Sumter, SC 29151
(Home) 803-938-9037
(Cell) 803-468-0617

-----------------------
Atty. Brian Benenhaley
(General Counsel for company)
The Clark Law Firm
P.O. Drawer 880
Sumter, SC 29150
Phone:  (803) 775-1234
Fax:  (803) 775-8590
County:  Sumter
SC Bar Admission:  11/15/1999
Law School Attended:  University of South Carolina
Graduating Year:  1999
SC Bar Membership Status: 
Active for more than 3 years
-----------------------
Brian’s cousin Jerry in jail?: http://tinyurl.com/ac735
-----------------------
Jeff French
Investments managing director of:
The Duke Endowment, 100 North Tryon St., Suite 3500, Charlotte, NC 28202-4012, Phone - 704.376.0291, Fax - 704.376.9336, , http://www.dukeendowment.org

Mr. French had previously worked as an associate with NationsBank Capital Investors in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Member of Board of Directors
Presbyterian Healthcare, 200 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte, North Carolina 28204, 704-384-4000
http://presbyterian.org
Major Donor and 1985 Alumni from Clemson U.
------------------------------
Office building at 3830 Forest Dr owned by:
(the landlord and possible accountant of suspects):
C.C. MCGREGOR & CO. LLP (CPA with 32 emloyees)
P O BOX 135 (also at 3830 Forest Dr - 1st floor)
COLUMBIA SC 29202
Phone: (803) 787-0003, Fax: (803) 787-2299
Website: http://www.ccmcgregor.com
Email:

South side of Forest Dr. 24,000 sq. ft. 2 story brick structure with flat roof and slab foundation. Several commercial units. Building was build in 1974 and sold for over a million $$$ to McGregor 1/09/1992.

Gerald D. Skipper, CPA (pic: http://tinypic.com/hrwy1k.jpg)
Managing Partner
Email:
Phone:  (803) 787-0003
EDUCATION: University of South Carolina B.S. in Accounting (1971)
EXPERIENCE: Started career at C C McGregor & Company in August 1971. Admitted as Partner May 1, 1977.
MEMBERSHIPS: AICPA SCACPA
-----------------
Another tenant at 3830 Forest Dr
CONTINENTAL LIFE INS OF SC, 3830 FOREST DR SUITE 202, COLUMBIA, SC 29204 PHONE: (803) 782-4947
-----------------
Brian is looking to hire another General Counsel for his operation:
“In-House Corporate Counsel wanted: Seeking attorney with 2 to 3 years of experience (preferable) for general in-house position at marketing company in Columbia, SC. Experience in the following areas beneficial Commercial Litigation, Advertising/Marketing/Privacy Law, Intellectual Property, Contract Review/Drafting, Corporate Law and Labor/Human Resource Law. Primary duties include: assessing and fulfilling insurance needs; reviewing and approving advertising materials for regulatory compliance; corporate record keeping; reviewing, negotiating and drafting business to business contracts; supervision of outside counsel on litigation and advisory matters; implementation of human resource policies and procedures. Salary commensurate with experience. Send resume and references to Brian Benenhaley at or by facsimile to (803) 790-7735.”
Source: http://www.scbar.org/member/classifieds.asp
------------------------------
Brian? is ANTI-gay: http://tinyurl.com/aglpt
------------------------------
Brian is a Republican (active SCGOP chairman):
http://scgop.com/calendar/display_event.asp?ID=231
-------------------------------
MP3 of Brian’s voice. Part of a phone call between SueSpammer.com about how he is not a spammer: http://tinyurl.com/af9le
-------------------------------
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