Jack Wilson’s at it again.
Only this time he’s claiming to represent a firm called SalesListsOnline and is pitching what he claims is the ad:tech San Francisco attendee list to the show’s exhibitors.
And once again, there is evidence SalesListsOnline is related to the same India-based outfit that evidence indicates may operate or may have operated EmailAppenders, a firm in multiple disputes with marketers claiming the data vendor sold them bad lists.
Wilson appeared in a story here last week after some exhibitors who are expected to be at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s HIMSS 2009 convention began receiving e-mails pitching them on buying the show’s attendee list.
In those e-mails, Wilson claimed to represent a firm called OptInList.
An HIMSS official claimed Wilson couldn’t possibly have a legitimately obtained list of the organization’s conference attendees.
A call to the number listed in Wilson’s e-mail reached a man who would only identify himself as Jack. He claimed he did not have the 2009 HIMSS attendee list, but had acquired previous years’ HIMSS attendee lists, appended e-mail addresses to them, and that those names were what OptInList was offering.
And, indeed, the e-mail to HIMSS exhibitors did not claim the list was of 2009 attendees.
Last week, exhibitors who are expected to be at the ad:tech 2009 San Francisco conference in April received e-mails from Wilson claiming he had an entire “list of modeled attendees” to the show
In the ad:tech e-mails, Wilson claimed to be with SalesListsOnline. The messages were sent from JackW@slistsonline.com.
In the HIMMS e-mails, Wilson claimed to represent OptInList and sent his messages from JackW@optinbmail.us.
The phone numbers in both pitches were identical.
According to experts, e-mail addresses that don’t match company names may be a sign that the sender is not legitimate. At the very least, it’s a sign the sender is unable to send e-mail from his company’s domain because it’s been deemed to be that of a spammer and is getting its messages blocked by filters.
When a recipient of Wilson’s ad:tech pitch, who asked not to be named, questioned Wilson about his e-mail address, he responded: “It is just an e-mail domain we use to avoid e-mail filters, etc. Our Web site is www.saleslistsonline.com.”
The marketer forwarded the e-mail exchange to this newsletter.
When further pressed on why his e-mail address didn’t match his company’s purported name, Wilson responded: “Yes, I agree that our Web site doesn’t match my e-mail domain address, the only reason I have a different domain is because @slistsonline.com domain is used by my marketing team for bulk mailing to generate leads and there is more chances of getting it spammed.”
And just as in the HIMSS case, ad:tech officials claim Wilson can’t possibly have a legitimately obtained list of ad:tech attendees.
“Ad:tech does not allow for public rental of attendee e-mail contact information,” wrote Don Knox, global vice president, ad:tech, in an e-mailed statement. “Our list broker handles direct mail contact information, but any transaction requires the use of a third-party mail house or printer to ensure anonymity.”
He added: “Furthermore, ad:tech has put a moratorium on the rental of e-mail addresses. Any attendee e-mail addresses are garnered, by permission only, by exhibitors at each event through registered lead-retrieval devices.”
Two weeks ago, Wilson confirmed his company’s address was 2370 Market Street in San Francisco.
A firm called EventGain located at EventGain.net—notice the .net—lists the 2370 Market Street address as its U.S. headquarters.
According to anti-spam outfit Spamhaus’s Registry of Known Spam Operations, EventGain.com—notice the .com—at one time was operated by India-based Data Champions/Sloan Marketing.
EventGain.com no longer works. It is possible EventGain.com and EventGain.net are unrelated but that seems unlikely.
According to Spamhaus, Data Champions/Sloan Marketing has also operated EmailAppenders.com, EmailAppenders.com no longer works.
However, EmailAppendersWeb.com is home to EmailAppenders, a firm that is in multiple disputes with marketers who claim it sold them bogus e-mail lists.
EmailAppenders is also being sued by Internet Retailer for allegedly offering a bogus list of its annual conference attendees for sale.
