Rabo "sell out your friends" spam!

ClubMan · 26 Apr 2006

Anybody else get the Rabo "sell out your friends" spam from them today? I initially assumed that it was a joke, hoax or phishing attempt but it looks real. Unbelievable!

For the record here are the message headers:

Code:

From: "RaboDirect" <[EMAIL="info@rabodirect.ie"]info@rabodirect.ie[/EMAIL]>
To: XXXXXX
Reply-To: [EMAIL="info@rabodirect.ie"]info@rabodirect.ie[/EMAIL]
Subject: =?Windows-1252?B?V2FudCCAMTAwIHRvIHNlbGwg?=
 =?Windows-1252?B?b3V0IHlvdXIgZnJpZW5kcz8g?=
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:51:19 +0200
Message-ID: <[EMAIL="20060426-16511969-dc0@cordamail.cordata.be"]20060426-16511969-dc0@cordamail.cordata.be[/EMAIL]>
Mailer:[broken link removed]
Mail-System:CordataEngine
Mail-Action:604
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
    boundary="--=83838E29185E49EB99B4_BCB2_0BF9_D8E8"

----=83838E29185E49EB99B4_BCB2_0BF9_D8E8
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
    boundary="--=81999E2D90854B55BA21_2804_27A2_718F"

Squonk · 26 Apr 2006

Yep...I just got one too. It looks like they want to start a chain-letter.

onlineprint · 26 Apr 2006

Is there a web link for this offer lol

Crunchie · 26 Apr 2006

You can have one of my invites if you want

Brendan Burgess · 27 Apr 2006

ClubMan very kindly referred me to test this and this is the response he got:

Get out of here!!/ How hard up were you?/ Wasn’t this just the best offer ever?/ Don’t you just love us?

Thanks for selling out your mates. But now will you please stop because you will have cleaned us out of €20 notes. And the genius who came up with the offer says you can’t have more than 5 mates anyway.

But thanks all the same. We really appreciate it. You should come and work for us!

I got the following email:

Dear Friend.
You probably know this already but my bank, RaboDirect is offering a unbelievably amazing 3.35%* interest on savings. That could be up to 30 times more than what you get from your bank. Plus they offer a choice of top rated investment funds that'll blow your socks off!
Anyway, they've gently persuaded me to invite you to open a RaboDirect Savings Account.
Here's the best bit! If you do open an account, you get €20 to get the next round of pints you tight git. Of course I'll be getting €20 too but that's because I deserve it.
Go on you know you will be cut off my Christmas mailer if you don't.
Cheers.
ClubMan

Want your €20 now? Here’s your Voucher Code:
xxxxxxxxx

Now print this e mail off with the voucher code (that’s the important bit) and post this e mail to RaboDirect with all your account opening stuff and once your account is open you’ll be €20 richer and so will I!!
[broken link removed] to open your RaboDirect Savings Account

There is something very tacky about this whole approach.
The main danger that I see in it is that if a "reputable" bank like RaboBank sends spam to people, then the next time that they get email from a fraudster they would be more likely to respond to it.
Some fraudsters will now start sending emails purporting to come from RaboBank asking for details of their accounts so that they can pay the €20 into it.

I can't think of any particular law or code which they are breaking, but it seems irresponsible to me.

I may well make a formal complaint to the Financial Regulator or to the ASAI.

Brendan

Humpback · 27 Apr 2006

Brendan said:
I may well make a formal complaint to the Financial Regulator or to the ASAI.

Brendan - a quick fyi, I tried to complain to ASAI about some internet advertising by Imagine Broadband that was wrong (they'd upheld my complaint regarding the same comments on television), but ASAI rejected the complaint because they don't cover such internet communications - I'm guessing that e-mail will fall into that category as well.

ClubMan · 27 Apr 2006

This sort of advertising/recruitment campaign by a high profile and otherwise reputable financial institution is a very bad idea for the reasons outlined by Brendan above. I think Rabo have confused "sarcasm" with "straight talking" in their marketing campaigns. I realise that this sort of stuff is supposed to be funny but I tend not to trust any organisation that treats its customers (and I am a Rabo customer myself at the moment but am having second thoughts in the light of this harebrained campaign) like idiots:

And the genius who came up with the offer says you can’t have more than 5 mates anyway.

Squonk · 27 Apr 2006

It looks like the marketing dept of Rabo have gone crazy. How wants to put money into a bank that's run by a load of wise-asses? A bank should project an image of security and maturity. From the tone of those Rabo emails I would guess that the bank was been run by a pack of teenagers.

ClubMan · 27 Apr 2006

Squonk said:
A bank should project an image of security and maturity.

Yeah - like my other bank PTSB and their mafia themed advertising?

ClubMan · 27 Apr 2006

I've sent this comment to Rabo via their website:

I wish to complain about your recent (26th April) "sell our your friends" spam email campaign encouraging existing customers to refer others to become Rabo customers. I initially assumed that the email was a hoax or phishing attempt and treated it with extreme caution. However having established that it was genuine (by checking the email headers and the websites references) I was gobsmacked to realise that a financial institution like Rabo was engaging in such a puerile marketing campaign tactic. More importantly, it is very irresponsible for a financial institution to be encouraging the public to open what look like hoax/spam/phishing emails and even send them on to others. Especially when the trend in the business is to highlight the potential security risks inherent in using online services (websites and email) and encouraging customers to protect themselves against nefarious scams. Having opened an account with Rabo when they first arrived here in Ireland I am now seriously reconsidering whether should be doing business with a bank which uses such irresponsible tactics in the marketing of their wares, never mind encouraging others to become customers.

Brendan Burgess · 27 Apr 2006

Hi ClubMan

That's straight talking anyway! May I plagiarise that for my formal complaint to IFSRA?

Brendan

ClubMan · 27 Apr 2006

Be my guest.

ClubMan · 27 Apr 2006

Squonk said:
From the tone of those Rabo emails I would guess that the bank was been run by a pack of teenagers.

Well the General Manager is [broken link removed] who presumably has ultimate responsibility for this approach by the bank to online marketing? Judging by his picture he's not a teenager.

P.S. what odds will anybody give me on some journo picking up on this story from AAM?

Humpback · 27 Apr 2006

ClubMan said:
P.S. what odds will anybody give me on some journo picking up on this story from AAM?

Took the words right out of my mouth (or at least off my keyboard). I was going to hold off posting though to see if they did actually pick it up.

Maybe they're scared off now. Maybe they're brazen enough to go with the story anyway.

CCOVICH · 27 Apr 2006

Brendan is well aware of this thread, and he can make the call on whether or not anything in breach of the Posting Guidelines has been said. If anyone has an informed view and is genuinely concerned that something that has been said here has potentially negative consequences for him, could I ask that they contact Brendan directly on the issue. Let's not drag it out any further here.

Thanks.

ClubMan · 2 May 2006

Still no reply from "the straight talking bank" to my complaint filed through the feedback form on their website.

ClubMan · 2 May 2006

Received this from them this evening:

Dear ...

I refer to your recent complaint about our “sell out your friends” campaign.
We have a permission email database that our customers have voluntarily subscribed themselves to. The email communication which you referred to was issued by RaboDirect to our customers who have opted to receive communications from us. Subscribers are free to unsubscribe from our database at any time.
The email communication provides customers with the opportunity to tell their friends about us by forwarding a message to their “friends” from their personal email box and to avail of an offer. The offer is limited to our customers and their five invited “friends”.
RaboDirect does not consider this email campaign to be spam by virtue of the fact that customers have opted into receiving communication from us. The emails we send to subscribers to our database are not unsolicited. RaboDirect does not engage in spam emails. RaboDirect never communicates with customers seeking their customer account details and encourages all our customers to use the secure site in relation to account queries. Email marketing is an accepted form of marketing provided that it meets with the appropriate standards and Data Protection regulations.
We provide detailed information about our security policy on our website and have implemented the highest levels of online security through our Digipass system. The only way a customer can log in to their online accounts is by using the combination of the unique customer number and random access code that is generated by the Digipass. Please see http://www.rabodirect.ie/security for more details.
RaboDirect’s customers can also take comfort in the fact that Rabobank has over eleven years online banking experience and is the only bank in Ireland to explicitly offer its customers a No Fraud Online Guarantee.
Thank you for your feedback. We continually seek feedback from our customers and this is invaluable in helping us to improve our product offering, service and marketing campaigns. .
If you require any further information or if I can help in any way please feel free to contact me directly.
Regards
...

dublinsense · 3 May 2006

I'm gonna side with rabo on this one, Fair play to them. Rather than wasting thousands on traditional methods they got people talking. I take my hat off to them.

ClubMan · 3 May 2006

Talking about how irresponsible and puerile the campaign is - hardly a good thing? I've also decided to reduce my balance to the minimum €1 (from the mere €100 that I had with them - my Northern Rock account offers better rates anyway), have unsubscribed from their email notification channel (which I would have expected to be for useful information rather than spam campaigns like this), have tied up one of their staff for at least a couple of hours dealing with my complaints about this matter and will not be recommending them to anybody else. Maybe my negative reaction to this campaign will be in the minority. If so, so be it.

GreatDane · 3 May 2006

Hi

I can't say I'm overly bothered by this advertising campaign myself, but I can appreciate why some might be.

I do however like the idea of them giving €20 per head, for each new customer, along with giving each of the new customers €20 also .. not as good as the original €30 free plus €30 in Pigsback points, but a decent offer nonetheless .. easy money, in many respects.

As a side point, it's a shame they failed to pass on the full benifit of the last two, 0.25% ECB rate rises ... I fear this may be the start of our "straight talking bank" taking a little more profit from us

Cheers

G>

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