Avoid Consumer Reports like the plague. The organization once famed for fairness and consumer protection has become a consumer-abusing fundraising-focused evil corporate spammer.
I signed up for a subscription in 2010. That’s fourteen years ago. One month later, having gotten what I needed and having been deluged with spam, I canceled my subscription and opted out of future emails.
Eleven years later, they resurrected their old email list and just started spamming again, with no permission. I opted out again.
A couple of months ago, they started up yet again. Yes, this is pure unsolicited, bulk, commercial email. Spam, pure and simple. They can wrap themselves in the cloak of “but we’re consumer-protecting good guys!!!” but they’re running a scam and spamming to do it. This time, they’re hawking a data broker opt-out service using deceptive wording that implies that I’ve already chosen to be part of their “program” and just need to start paying for it. Now, though, there’s a twist: click on their “unsubscribe” link and you’re taken to a page that requires you to accept a contract in order for them to stop spamming you. So, in addition to violating anti-spam laws, add extortion and harassment to their list of crimes. (Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer; I just know what looks, acts, and quacks like a duck.)
Still, I unsubscribed three more times over the course of the last few months. Today, I got another spam.
What kind of gutter-crawling scum preys on vulnerable people to peddle their wares — be it cryptocurrency investments, erection medications, longevity supplements, extended automobile warranties, or magazine subscriptions? Consumer Reports, apparently.
Their latest spam is offering to protect me against the very behavior they’re perpetrating. “Nice inbox you got there… be a shame if something happened to it.”
Spammer scum.
—2p