2009-04-18

Be2 sells email addresses to spammers

An open letter.

Dear Nastya,

I was glad to receive your email which read:

> I saw your profile on the dating site: be2.dk
> I loved it, and I would like to learn more about you.
> My dear, i am girl and I am 27 years old,
> I would like to get acquainted with you,
> if you are not against it, we can support our contact.
> You can write me at my e-mail: [REDACTED]@yahoo.com
> Also, I sent my letter, my picture, I hope you like it.
> I would hope that you write to me and also send me your photo.
> Sincerely yours Nastya!!!

It is true that I had a profile on be2.dk -- but that was long ago, and it was only active for a few hours until I found out what exorbitant prices Be2 charge for the ability to write other than stock messages to other profiles. (They do not disclose their prices until after one has created a profile).

As mentioned, I quickly deleted the profile. But now, months later, your email was sent to the throwaway email address I used to create the Be2 profile and never used elsewhere. This tells me that Be2 must have been selling email address lists to spammers.

It is very nice to know this, because I was just about to decide that perhaps I had been too miserly and should give Be2 a second try, despite their high fees. Now that I know they associate with spammers I've lost my inclination to do so, and thereby saved a bunch of money.

For this I thank you.

However, the absence of any specific details in your email (aside from the minor matter of writing to a stolen address) suggests to me that you are simply spamming. I suspect that your eventual intent is to sell me some sort of (possibly interactive) pornography, rather than cultivating a honest friendship.

On this basis, I am sorry to say that I do not want to pursue a further acquaintance with you. But I do wish you the best of luck in whatever scam it is you're running.

Sincerely yours,

Henning Makholm