Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Hazardous Chemicals: Control and Regulation - spam
I am always suspicious of unsolicited emails advising me of something I might need for my business to comply with new regulations or laws
So when an unsolicited email from Amy Cole of Research and Markets Ltd. arrived at a stopECG.org email address I have never used for subscriptions I thought I would give it a closer look.
The email is basically a plug for a year-old book by Herbert F Bender and Philipp Eisenbarth, Titled Hazardous Chemicals: Control and Regulation in the European Market. The title of the book is used as the subject line for the email, which is couched as a report on the book, only later on does it become clear that it is an advertisement, while the Email does not state YOU NEED THIS BOOK the intonation was that your business might be missing out or non-compliant without it.
I must state clearly that while this is spam in most people’s understanding of the word, Amy Cole is not breaking UK law as long as she only sends to business users and as long as a clear unsubscribe option is offered.
My reason for flagging this up is that whenever new legislation comes to bear there are those, both genuine businesses and scammers who will seek to profit from your ignorance. If you feel you need this book you might just click the link and buy it, the quoted price of 105 Euros is not that bad… is it?
So I followed the link onto http://www.researchandmarkets.com and added the book to my cart, at checkout Shipping and Handling was added at a cool 50 euros! That brings the total in my currency to approx £123
A quick look on Amazon and I can grab the same title, delivered to my door from one of their sellers for less than £60.
So the advice is that when you get those messages offering products to help you comply with current legislation, be careful. Even if you do actually need the product offered it may be available for much less or even for free elsewhere. A few clicks on the search engines could save you a lot of money!
So when an unsolicited email from Amy Cole of Research and Markets Ltd. arrived at a stopECG.org email address I have never used for subscriptions I thought I would give it a closer look.
The email is basically a plug for a year-old book by Herbert F Bender and Philipp Eisenbarth, Titled Hazardous Chemicals: Control and Regulation in the European Market. The title of the book is used as the subject line for the email, which is couched as a report on the book, only later on does it become clear that it is an advertisement, while the Email does not state YOU NEED THIS BOOK the intonation was that your business might be missing out or non-compliant without it.
I must state clearly that while this is spam in most people’s understanding of the word, Amy Cole is not breaking UK law as long as she only sends to business users and as long as a clear unsubscribe option is offered.
My reason for flagging this up is that whenever new legislation comes to bear there are those, both genuine businesses and scammers who will seek to profit from your ignorance. If you feel you need this book you might just click the link and buy it, the quoted price of 105 Euros is not that bad… is it?
So I followed the link onto http://www.researchandmarkets.com and added the book to my cart, at checkout Shipping and Handling was added at a cool 50 euros! That brings the total in my currency to approx £123
A quick look on Amazon and I can grab the same title, delivered to my door from one of their sellers for less than £60.
So the advice is that when you get those messages offering products to help you comply with current legislation, be careful. Even if you do actually need the product offered it may be available for much less or even for free elsewhere. A few clicks on the search engines could save you a lot of money!
Labels: compliant, EU Legeslation, Research and Markets Ltd
