Can anyone explain to me how the mrsmiley web site works? I got 2 emails "from" my sis saying she wanted me to sign up for the free t-shirt so we could both get one. When I contacted her and told her it probably wasn't a good idea and that I wouldn't be doing it, I found out she didn't send the emails and had never been to the web site. Not only did she not send them but she got one from a friend and one from a daughter but they hadn't sent them or been to the web site either. So now we have 3 people that we know of that have never been to the web site that are "sending out emails to join". Another situation is that the email address for the daughter was an old inactive address that hasn't been used in 2 or more years. My address that they were sent to is one I now use only when asked for an email address by a web site and my sis doesn't even have it in her address book.

My question...could the mrsmiley web page be collecting email addresses from someone's address book without them knowing it and then use those addresses to generate more emails? And if so isn't that, or at least shouldn't, that be illegal?

Thanks, in advance.

Hi
the mrsmiley web site page actually asks for people to
give them 'you & your friends'email addresses
so evidently you have been signed up by some one,
in the UK that could be unsolicited goods act if you get charged for unwanted goods.
no idea about rest of world ,
may be some one you know thought they were doing you a favour?

wouldnt worry about it too much they probably sell the email list on to other 3rd partys,
turn the email spam filter on.
:)

Normally I would agree but none of us {the 4 I know are involved} have ever been to the site and one of the email addresses is no longer active and hasn't been for a couple of years. Also non of the people involved has my address for the account that it was sent to. It just about has to be someone that knows one of the others and has old inactive addresses in their book. It's very odd to say the least.

Hi
Could be someone nearby soon has a mr smiley T shirt, check the washing lines!
one for the X files lol.

Your probably right. Alot of companies will use this method to obtain personal information. If you read this companies privacy policy you will notice they say "

Pixel tags are tiny graphic files that are included in HTML-encoded email messages. We use pixel tags to gather information about the emails we send to our registered users and to recipients of referral emails. When such a message is opened in an HTML-capable email program, the recipient's computer accesses our server to retrieve the pixel tag file, and allows us to record and store the date and time, the recipient's email address, and other standard logging information. The pixel tag also may read cookies.

"

The last line is what suprises me. They read your cookies and transmit them back to their website. Thats a little leary, cookies often store usernames and passwords amongst other identifiable information.

A side note.
If a deal sounds to good to be true, it is. It truly amazes me that marketers still find business when they offer "FREE" Nothing is free.

Hi Ian, it amazes me also but it's human nature to try to get something for nothing. What I think may have happened is that someone that knows my sis or her friend has gotten the rest of the email addresses from a mass emailing of a joke or such {why don't people use BCC for those things?} and then they went to the web site and had their address book or an email copied. The thing that really upsets me is that the web site seems to be using other people's addresses as the sender so most spam filters won't block it and the person getting the email thinks a friend has really sent them that stupid site. That's what should be illegal!

OK, I'm finished venting now! Thanks for all of the help. Brenda

I am also in the same situation as the first poster. I received an email from a family member saying they wanted me to sign up (to a private email address that only family members know and has never been entered at any website or service). When I replied back to them telling them it was a scam, they were confused because they had not sent it to me, instead they received an email supposedly from me wanting them to sign up which I obviously did not do, especially with my very private family-only email address.

They must have harvested the email addresses from a forwarded email or something which explains them having both of our email addresses.

hey,
i got this email from my friend, so i gave my information, it insists on phone number, but it keeps on saying "invalid phone number", then i got doubt, it must be a spam. does anyone know, if this is a spam ? but i already gave my info...
:(

Hello Brenda and Co.

My name is Bryan and I work in the customer support division here at Mr. Smiley. I have read through this forum post and I would like to answer your questions.

We only send out referral emails to those addresses that our users have listed. The way it works is our users register with us at mrsmiley.com and refer at least 5 of their friends’ email addresses. Once 5 of their friends have signed up with us, using the referral email we send on our user’s behalf, they will then qualify for the free t-shirt.

When registering, we ask for things such as Home Address and Phone Number in order to verify that the person setting up the account is real. You would be surprised at the number of fraudulent accounts that are set up so a user can refer themselves. Therefore we must insist on having such a picky address verification system. This is why a lot of our users encounter a problem with “Invalid Address or Phone” error messages. Usually, a slight variation on the street address will fix the problem.

We do not sell email lists nor do we buy email lists. All of our users are based upon referrals. We do run a series of advertisements where we may pass along certain contact information, but only if the user agrees to it. Users are NOT required to sign up for any offer they do not want and, in fact, users can pass on all of the offers without any effect on their free t-shirt.

We keep all of our accounts active in our database until our user’s request to be removed. This means that a lot of people will sign up with us on a whim and forget that they have done so. We continue to send out referral reminder emails to our user’s friends until they have qualified for their free shirt. This means that sometimes it may seem as if an email is coming from an inactive email account because some of our users change email addresses and do not update their MrSmiley account.

I hope I have addressed your questions properly. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at smiley2@smileymedia.com .

Hello Brenda and Co.

My name is Bryan and I work in the customer support division here at Mr. Smiley. I have read through this forum post and I would like to answer your questions.

We only send out referral emails to those addresses that our users have listed. The way it works is our users register with us at mrsmiley.com and refer at least 5 of their friends? email addresses. Once 5 of their friends have signed up with us, using the referral email we send on our user?s behalf, they will then qualify for the free t-shirt.

When registering, we ask for things such as Home Address and Phone Number in order to verify that the person setting up the account is real. You would be surprised at the number of fraudulent accounts that are set up so a user can refer themselves. Therefore we must insist on having such a picky address verification system. This is why a lot of our users encounter a problem with ?Invalid Address or Phone? error messages. Usually, a slight variation on the street address will fix the problem.

We do not sell email lists nor do we buy email lists. All of our users are based upon referrals. We do run a series of advertisements where we may pass along certain contact information, but only if the user agrees to it. Users are NOT required to sign up for any offer they do not want and, in fact, users can pass on all of the offers without any effect on their free t-shirt.

We keep all of our accounts active in our database until our user?s request to be removed. This means that a lot of people will sign up with us on a whim and forget that they have done so. We continue to send out referral reminder emails to our user?s friends until they have qualified for their free shirt. This means that sometimes it may seem as if an email is coming from an inactive email account because some of our users change email addresses and do not update their MrSmiley account.

I hope I have addressed your questions properly. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at smiley2@smileymedia.com .

but which countries is this offer valid Mr.smiley , u better update that also to confirm ur not a fake company phishing email ids.

Indian Folk