Sponsor's Message

Uh-oh! We all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch, so I decided to investigate further.

Clicking on the ad, I was taken to this page where just a little more information was provided.

Wow! Not only do you and a friend get a free lunch (worth $30), but you also get free business organizers [sic] worth $79.98.

My goodness, it almost sounds too good to be true doesn't it? [WARNING SIGN #2]

Obviously this offer required some more investigation.

I noted a "PS" on that wepage which reads:

"The invitation that you were emailed includes complimentary..."

Hmmmm... how would this company get people's email addresses and permission to email them I wonder?

Do I sniff a spammer here?

Readers Say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums

Although the website is at the domain internetseminars.com, I spotted that the page title was IMergent.

A quick search for IMergent on Google Groups turned up this interesting post

Oooohh... StoresOnline.com eh?

Back in 2002, StoresOnline swept through NZ and ripped off a number of Kiwis (after giving them a free lunch of course) to the tune of many tens of thousands of dollars a piece. Check out just one of the stories that IDG wrote on the scam

But could *this* website and free lunch also be from those nice folks at StoresOnline?

Are StoresOnline just operating under a nom de plume after all that bad press they got last time?

Well a quick Whois check of the StoresOnline.com domain shows that the registrant is none other than:

And that the registrant for inetseminars.com is also none other than Imergent Inc.

So, tell your friends, tell your family, even tell your enemies -- OnlineStores is back in town and seemingly back to their old tricks.

But what can we do about this?

Should we tell people not to go to these seminars?

Hell no, don't do that!

Sign up (but don't use an email address you want protected from spam), go and eat your free lunch, enjoy your business organizer [sic], and smile nicely on your way out. Oh, and don't forget to say "thank you StoresOnline" as you walk past their frowning salespeople.

Let's make their seminars overwhelmingly popular, so that it costs them an arm and a leg in lunches and stationery. Just don't sign anything or give them any money like the last bunch of gullible Kiwis did.

Revenge, unlike a free lunch, is a dish best served cold :-)

New Forums!
Yes folks, good news. The grotty ezboard forums have been replaced with a new phpBBS-based system that won't assault you with a myriad of pop-ups and other flotsam.

A big thanks to Managed Internet Solutions for offering to provide this service.

You can access the new forums over at aardvarkforums.co.nz

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!