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October 5, 2004

Pet Pantry Spammer

There's often a strange story behind the most innocuous looking spam. Since last Friday, I've received four identical spams from a dial-up connection in the Philippines, advertising DAL LLC, a Nevada company that operates a telemarketing center in Manila specializing in outbound calls. "At this time we have extra capacity and are actively looking to offer quotes for our services," says the spam, which is signed by Don Lockman, president of the company. No opt-out link and no physical address, as required by CAN-SPAM. Oddly, the return address on the message was "petpantry@pacific.net.ph."

I did a little research and discovered that Mr. Lockman is also president of Pet Pantry International. In May 2003, the FDA forced Pet Pantry to recall dog food that may have contained "rendered material" from a Canadian cow that tested positive for BSE ("Mad Cow Disease"). The FDA announcement advised consumers to call Pet Pantry's toll-free number to arrange the return of the product. A month later, Pet Pantry laid off its Nevada-based telemarketing staff of 70 and moved the operation to Manila, citing "adverse legislation" such as the FTC's Do Not Call registry.

So, to recap, Pet Pantry moved its telemarketing business to the Philippines to get around the U.S. law. Now, it's sending spam (not compliant with CAN-SPAM) to advertise that business.

Posted by brian at October 5, 2004 10:43 AM