MainSleaze

This issue has been resolved. The blog remains posted because blogs shouldn’t disappear, to make sure that Google and other search engines and archives get the update, and in hopes that other people can learn something from it and the comments. 🙂

Online stock broker Zecco Trading should not be using a carelessly implemented and badly secured “friends” program to solicit business. No friend of my mother’s authorized the attached email. Neither she nor her friends has a spare penny, and none of them lives in the U.S. ESP Eloqua needs to discuss this type of solicitation with their customer, in addition to their mailing practices.

Since calling spammers bl***y w****rs isn’t allowed here, I will just say that I really do not like it when spammers target my mum. She is getting on. Although she is no fool, her Internet skills are limited. She couldn’t possibly distinguish between a more-or-less legitimate company, such as I suppose this one is, and a stock pumper. She can smell a rat from a considerable distance, fortunately, and sent this to me for investigation. I find frightening the idea that such unsolicited emails are being sent to others of her age but lacking her clear mind and good sense.

Spam Headers:

Received: from e222.en25.com (e222.en25.com [209.167.231.222])
        by <redacted> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <redacted>
        for <redacted>; Mon, 31 Oct 2011 <redacted> -0500 (CDT)
Message-ID: <redacted>
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: "Zecco Friends Program" <noreply@zeccotrading.com>
To: <redacted>
Reply-To: "Zecco" <noreply@zecco.com>
Date: 31 Oct 2011 <redacted> -0400
Subject: You were referred - Take advantage of our year end $100 bonus!
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary=--boundary_<redacted>

Spam Sample:

From: Zecco Friends Program <noreply@zeccotrading.com>
Subject: You were referred – Take advantage of our year end $100 bonus!
Reply-To: Zecco <noreply@zecco.com>
To: <redacted>

Can’t see this email? View as web page
Zecco.com | Contact Us | Trading Center Sneak Peek

<images removed>

Zecco Trading: Stock Trades for just $4.95, plus earn a $100 Bonus

Your friend recommended you to Zecco, and Zecco’s great value just got even better. Take advantage of Zecco’s Refer-a-Friend year end promotion and get $100 just for opening and funding an account with Zecco. It only takes two steps:

* Open a Zecco Trading account
* Deposit and maintain $10,000 or more in the account for 90 days

If you have questions or concerns please contact Zecco Trading Customer Service at 877-700-STOCK (7862) or customerservice@zeccotrading.com

Sincerely,

Michael Feser
President, Zecco Trading, Inc.
Member FINRA/SIPC

Follow Us Fan Us Refer Us

This e-mail was sent to the following address: <redacted>
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Zecco Trading | PO Box 10010 | Glendale, CA 91209 | Privacy Policy

To receive credit under the Zecco Friends Program, you must open and fund your Zecco Trading account with $10,000 within 60 days of this invitation. You must then maintain at least $10,000 in the account for 90 days. If the friend that referred you is an Elite customer, you’ll receive three months of Elite status as well. The $100 cash reward (and Elite status, if eligible) will be applied to your Zecco Trading account within the first 15 business days of the next calendar month after you qualify.

In order to receive cash in your account, you must use the link in this email to open your account and use the email address where you received your Zecco Friends Program invitation to open your Zecco Trading account. If you open an IRA account, the $100 reward will be sent as an Amazon gift certificate within 2-4 weeks. The Zecco Friends Program is only available to U.S. residents. Please refer to the Zecco Friends Program FAQs

Zecco.com is a financial portal of Zecco Holdings, Inc., which also provides access to Zecco Trading. Zecco Holdings is not a securities broker/dealer. All securities and investments are offered by Zecco Trading, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. More information is located on the disclosures page.

STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY: This message and any attachments are intended solely for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential or privileged information. If the recipient of this message is not the addressee or a person responsible for delivering the message to the addressee, such recipient is prohibited from reading or using this message in any way. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender of this message immediately and delete the message from any computer.