Just thought an update was appropriate:
Originally posted by damnyank
I went to the Symantec site's Spam Watch Response Center and found the following:
Report suspicious online promotions of Symantec/Norton branded software by e-mail to spamwatch@symantec.com. You may also connect with the local contact of the Business Software Alliance (check the contacts list at www.bsa.org). In the US, you can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about a spam email that you have received. Visit the FTC online to file a complaint, or forward the spam email to the FTC for investigation.
I sent an e-mail to their "spamwatch" and am awaiting a reply now - will pass it on if I get a reply!
Yea- I ordered it also - just in case it is legit!
I sent the above info to Symantec on Oct 17th, 2002 and I never received a response from them - until today!
Here is the response:
Automated Response to SPAM complaints received at Symantec SpamWatch:
Thank you for taking the time to alert us about the SPAM e-mail you
received. Please be advised that this e-mail is not affiliated with
Symantec or any approved Symantec partner and has been sent without
Symantec's knowledge or consent. This e-mail is most likely offering
counterfeit and/or pirated software or may be a credit card scam.
SPAM e-mails offering deeply discounted Norton or Symantec brand products
are highly suspicious and are investigated by Symantec. If you continue to
receive e-mails offering Symantec software at deeply discounted prices
and/or if the offers say that the software will arrive in anything other
than Symantec's standard yellow boxes, the offer is most likely illegal in
nature.
In response to these e-mails and the organizations/individuals behind them,
Symantec has developed a task force to investigate the e-mails and put a
stop to their proliferation, including initiating criminal and civil
action as appropriate We ask you for your assistance in helping us put a
stop to this practice by continuing to forward any similar e-mails to our
task force at
SpamWatch@symantec.com, so that we can investigate who is
sending the e-mails and attempt to stop them. We rely on reports from
individuals such as you, employees and contacts throughout the hi-tech
industry about SPAM e-mails such as this.
If you have purchased software purported to be a Symantec software product
through any of these SPAM e-mail offers, we would appreciate it if you
would send us the disc you received together with the sleeve, the envelope
it was mailed to you in and any packaging, invoices, e-mails, order forms
and proof of payment or other documentation you have relating to this
purchase. We will then examine the product to determine if it is
counterfeit or authentic. Please send these materials to "Manager, Brand
Protection, Symantec Corporation, 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA
95014."
Lastly, we also advise you not to respond to these e-mails, as any response
only confirms the accuracy of your e-mail address, resulting in even more
messages filling up your In box.
Even though we do not authorize them, we apologize for the inconvenience
these e-mails have caused you and pledge to you that we are doing our best
to put a stop to them. For more information please go to
http://www.symantec.com and visit our SpamWatch Response Center at
http://www.symantec.com/spamwatch/ to learn more information about SPAM and
piracy, including the warning signs and tips to help you protect your
privacy and avoid SPAM and credit card fraud scams. You may also wish to
read Business Week's article entitled "Software Scams on Internet Time" to
learn more about our efforts to combat the spammed e-mails and the
proliferation of pirated and counterfeit Symantec software at
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_39/b3801035.htm
Thank you again.
Chad Sharpe
Internet Security Investigator
Symantec Corporation
Now the really funny thing is I did in fact send a letter to the CEO of Symantec on January 17th, 2003 including a copy of the email I received saying it "was in the mail" and a copy of the letter I received from Symantec saying opps - we didn't have anything to do with that being posted on the web.
Well, that was almost three weeks ago I sent the letter and now out of the clear blue - here's comes an automated response and the only inquiry I made that could have generated it was on Oct 17, 2002!
I'll have to look through the source/details of the email and see if I can spot anything - boy I wonder what is going to happen now - or if that was the last of it!
Maybe my next letter to the CEO should include all the previous letter did and ask why it took them from Oct 17 until today to "automatic reposnd".