I just got spam to the unique tagged address I gave to the TaxAct people a while back when I bought their tax software. (Not this year, either.)
Relevant details:
Return-Path:
From: "taxact.com.g35d.k72a"
To: "taxact.012504"
Subject: Be the man of her dreams
... And yes, you guessed right, it's penis pill spam. But they clearly know this is a list of TaxAct customers, meaning they're well-placed to do phishing attacks based on tax information, especially if they got any other information.
I haven't yet found out anything from TaxAct. If you used them, especially last year, be wary. If you know other people who have had to do taxes, you might warn them too.
(Edited to add: Apparently not the first time, someone I know had the same experience in June 2006. TaxAct, at the time, didn't seem to feel it was a big deal or anything worth investigating.)
So, following up on the success of my lawsuit against Soyo Group for failing to pay a $20 rebate, I'm suing MSI Computer... for failing to pay a $20 rebate. They did, finally, respond with some kind of explanation of why they haven't paid it -- they claim an error in the submission. Can I correct it? No, the submission period is over.
So here's how the scam works. Identify some kind of arguable problem with the submission. (They say I can look this up on their site, but the rebate part of the site is "down" right now.) Now... Don't notify the submitter. If the submitter writes in to ask, give non-responses or misdirect until the rebate submission period is over, THEN explain the alleged problem.
Interesting. I don't think it'll fool a judge.
... Oh, and now they claim they just don't accept resubmissions. This contradicts what I was told on the phone. But then, their claim that "record not found" means the rebate form hasn't been "inputted" yet also contradicts the reality, that my record was in the database already but apparently under the wrong name. Oh, and also their claim that the thing I submitted lacked the invoice number contradicts the contents of all the emails I got from newegg, all of which show the invoice number.
So they're just liars. Caveat emptor.
Edited to add:
Their emails to me come from (mail.msicomputer.com [216.158.218.34])
I just got four harassing emails originating from 216.158.213.38, as well as a fraudulent submission of my personal info to a credit reporting firm... Which they report as coming from 216.158.213.38.
COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.