Barbara's Sharebook 

Posted on the Care2 Feedback & Suggestions Group. [They sometimes delete or move my stuff.] Addressed to Care2 staff.

See my other Blog Post about Fake Products advertised on Care2.

Please go to change.org and SIGN THE PETITION TO CARE2 ABOUT SPAM.

Please FLAG THE ADS FOR FAKE PRODUCTS WHENEVER YOU SEE THEM. KEEP FLAGGING! Thank you for your actions!

This is NOT just "ordinary" Spam; rather, we are dealing with a multi-million dollar ILLEGAL INDUSTRY invading C2. Sortof like Bootleggers during Prohibition invading Chicago.

The ADS FOR ILLEGAL PRODUCTS ARE BACK. You said you got rid of the "shopping" meme. Well, now they are BACK with "shoppingone", a very simple change! OBVIOUSLY, they can KEEP UP THIS GAME FOREVER AND EVER! and beyond! MY suggestion was {tho I am not a techie at all!}, that C2 look for posts that contain together words like Prada, Gucci, Coach, Tiffany, UGG, Nike, Air Jordan, etc. etc. etc. -- no LEGIT post that wasn't an AD would use ALL those words! Care2 NEEDS TO START PLAYING HARDBALL -- BECAUSE THESE CROOKS AND CRIMINAL CONGLOMERATIONS ARE CERTAINLY PLAYING HARDBALL WITH CARE2.

By the way, this is NOT some "punk kid" doing this, altho they have the "persona" of a semi-literate-in-English Chinese person called, in the present re-incarnation, "Mei". "Mei" is no more an actual person, than "Betty Crocker" is the "real" person running General Mills! Or "Aunt Jemima" is actually selling her pancakes, or "Uncle Ben" his rice. These are just FRONTS for Giant Corporations: AND SO IS "MEI". Or Han, Shen, Jen, etc. All these are FICTIONAL ENTITIES FRONTING FOR A HUGE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS IN MASS-PRODUCED FAKE GOODS. {My assertions are based on FACT and can be RESEARCHED AND VERIFIED.}

Anyway, to get to what I am saying in the title here. Yesterday, I came across an ad for REAL Gucci handbags! I know they were real Gucci, because after the word Gucci in the ad, there was a capital R inside a circle. I suppose this is for "Registered" trademark; and it is REQUIRED BY LAW.

Now, THIS AD WAS ON ANOTHER CHARITY "CLICK-TO-DONATE" SITE. I think it's called "Greater Good Network". This Site sells products to raise money for causes: T-shirts and pink ribbon pins for Breast Cancer, T-shirts for the Rainforest, etc. etc. And, this Site ALSO has "advertising sponsors" -- just like Care2 does! -- who "support" the site with PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. These are well-known brand-name sponsors -- LIKE GUCCI!!!

The "Greater Good Network" sites are set up differently, and have no problem with fake goods being advertised illegally and being snuck in there.

But I see Care2's advertisers -- I am looking right now, at a "Natural Choice" pet food ad! Where would Care2 be without its "sponsors"!

Do you think, C2, do you think, that like the "Greater Good" site, YOU COULD GET A COMPANY LIKE GUCCI AS A SPONSOR, IF THEY KNEW THEY HAD TO COMPETE WITH THE ADS FOR FAKE GUCCI RUNNING RAMPANT AND UNCHECKED ON YOUR SITE?????

For a more likely sponsor, HOW ABOUT IF YOU GET NIKE AS A SPONSOR? HOW WOULD THEY FEEL ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT AD RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH FAKE NIKE ADS? HOW DO YOU THINK NIKE WOULD FEEL, ABOUT PAYING FOR ADS ON CARE2, WHILE THE FAKE NIKES -- which DEGRADE their own product!!! -- WHILE THE FAKE NIKE ADS PAID NOTHING AT ALL, AND GOT THE SAME EXPOSURE????!!!! How would Nike executives and ad agencies feel about THAT?????

And, come to think of it, HOW WOULD ANY OF YOUR ADVERTISERS FEEL ABOUT PAYING TO BE ON CARE2, ABOUT "SPONSORING" GOOD CAUSES, WHEN IT SOON BECOMES COMMON KNOWLEDGE AMONG YOUR ADVERTISERS, THAT BOOTLEGGERS AND PIRATES ARE ADVERTISING ON CARE2 FOR FREE??? Your Advertisers are NOT STUPID, you know! They are going to catch on to what is happening here, sooner or later! Even Toyota, Natural Choice, etc. etc., some of them might have second thoughts!!!

To conclude, Care2, I AM POSITIVE THAT YOU ARE MAKING A BIG, BIG MISTAKE BY CONSIDERING THESE PIRATE ADS AS NOTHING MORE THAN ANOTHER IRRITATING EXAMPLE OF "NUISANCE SPAM". BIG, BIG, BIG MISTAKE.

THIS IS A MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR MASS-PRODUCTION INDUSTRY THAT PROBABLY HAS MORE RESOURCES AT HAND, THAN CARE2 DOES.

YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO MOBILIZE SUPER-TECH RESOURCES AGAINST THEM, THE BEST AND MOST SOPHISTICATED AVAILABLE; AND, AS SOME HAVE SUGGESTED, MAYBE BRING IN OUTSIDE HELP.

THIS PIRATE CABAL GOES AGAINST EVERY SINGLE VALUE CARE2 AND ITS MEMBERS HAVE: TREATS ITS WORKERS LIKE CRAP, RIPS OFF "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY", AND TREATS HELPLESS ANIMALS ABOMINABLY.

In short, C2, I am NOT a "hysterical female" making a Mountain out of a Molehill. This is NOT an exaggeration. You can research it all you want to. It's out there. I am Cassandra, or Paul Revere if you like, and I am trying to WARN YOU. This is SERIOUS SCHEISS. Don't let it GROW AND GROW. This is SERIOUS COMPETITION AGAINST YOUR PAYING ADVERTISERS. Among all the other things.

 This is urgent. I do not wish to see Care2 members hurt. Care2 is seemingly unable to protect us in this instance; we must protect ourselves, and each other. Please send this around to your friends, as an important warning for each one. Please also keep notifying Care2 of your concerns -- keep trying! Also, notifying law enforcement, or getting Care2 to notify law enforcement, is problematical, but maybe someone knows how this could be done, better than I know how.

Recently, we have been subject to annoying, intrusive ads from people calling themselves Shen and Jen and Han and Shi and Chi and Xia and all sorts of other names, which appear to be Chinese. Also, the ads are all the same or very similar; long lists of brand-name products at startlingly discounted prices. These ads have been appearing every day, day after day; often, several of them are in ONE thread, in Care2 News to Note -- to the extent that people give up and stop looking at the thread! It is particularly annoying, when the thread is about some tragedy, human or animal suffering and death! But, "annoying" is the LEAST of it..... I am appending a sample ad later on, so you can see what I mean.

WHAT THESE ADS ARE NOT:

No, there isn't somebody calling himself Jen who happens to have a lot of Gucci, Prada and Nike products he is selling out of his Mom's basement in Cincinnati!

These are not "real" Care2 members. They HAVE NO PROFILES. It is useless to get mad at them, try to talk to them or "reason" with them! They cannot be dealt with in the same way that Care2 members who "spam" are dealt with!

WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON HERE:

These "names" are EMPLOYEES. There are apparently several of them; they change their names every day. They are Hackers who have discovered vulnerabilities in Care2's system so they can invade, repeatedly, day after day after day, with apparent impunity. Care2 seems to NOT delete even their old posts which have been REPEATEDLY FLAGGED by us!

These EMPLOYEES, work for an ADVERTISING AGENCY. This ADVERTISING AGENCY is a SLEAZY, ILLEGITIMATE business. Their specialty, is to INSERT ADS THAT NORMAL CHANNELS FOR ADVERTISING, WOULD NOT TAKE. That is why they ALWAYS put ads on our threads. You will NEVER see these ads in "legitimate" advertising places. And, it is NOT just to "save money"!

You see, THESE ADS ARE FOR AN ILLEGITIMATE "PRODUCT". To sell such "brand names" as Gucci, Prada, Nike, Ugg, Air Jordan, and numerous others, I won't try to list them all, WHEN THESE ITEMS WERE NOT ACTUALLY MADE BY THE COMPANY WHOSE TRADEMARK YOU ARE USING -- that is an INTERNATIONAL VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT; and a CRIMINAL ACT that is seriously punishable! ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, THAT CAME ACROSS SUCH GOODS, WOULD LEGALLY CONFISCATE THEM. You KNOW -- if you have a brain in your head! -- you KNOW that at the prices given, THAT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE THE REAL BRAND-NAME PRODUCT.

Somewhere, one assumes in China, there are FACTORIES WORKING FULL-TIME TO TURN OUT FAKE BRAND-NAME PRODUCTS. Like these listed purses, shoes, sunglasses, shirts, hats, and more. Since even the REAL Nike factories have come under criticism for the way they treat workers, and working conditions -- but, at least Nike factory officials say they have improved, and Nike is now under International supervision -- just think, how HORRENDOUS the working conditions must be, like SLAVERY, to produce FAKE NIKES at one-tenth the selling price of the REAL THING -- and still make a profit!

But, that's not the ONLY thing to think about.

THESE CRIMINALS WANT YOUR CREDIT CARDS

THINK -- THINK. They are ALREADY an illegitimate, a CRIMINAL enterprise. ARE YOU GOING TO TRUST THEM WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER?????????????????

It may very well be, that either the Advertising Agency, or the Company manufacturing the FAKE products, has a nice lucrative little sideline, in acquiring and then re-selling CREDIT CARD NUMBERS you send in when you order this crap!!! They are ALREADY BREAKING SEVERAL LAWS -- so why not?????????????

I am concerned, because Care2 has all sorts of members, from old to very young, from smart to stupid; and we have seen time & again, people falling for obvious and not-so-obvious scams. BY LEAVING THE ADS UP UNTOUCHED, FOREVER APPARENTLY -- Care2 is MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR SOME SILLY TEENAGER WHO THINKS THEY ARE GETTING A "REAL DEAL" ON A BRAND-NAME SOMETHING -- TO SEND IN THEIR CREDIT CARD NUMBER......[remember, there's a sucker born every minute!]

They may or may not even get the product: if you buy a fake Gucci bag such as I hear are being sold on the streets of New York City, at least you SEE what you are getting -- and at least you are actually getting a bag! [and paying cash!]. People may receive NOTHING in the mail, or just a box full of paper, or some indescribable piece of junk that falls apart.... whatever they receive, it is certain that it WON'T be the brand-name product they thought they were sending for!!! THAT is why I am concerned that Care2 leaves these ads up FOREVER -- not just because of the "nuisance" of it all!

PLEASE KEEP FLAGGING THESE CRIMINAL ADS FOR PHONEY PRODUCTS. PLEASE KEEP LETTING CARE2 KNOW ABOUT YOUR CONCERNS.

PLEASE WARN OTHER CARE2 MEMBERS AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, ABOUT THIS CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE THAT CARE2 IS ALLOWING, THRU INACTION AND INDIFFERENCE APPARENTLY, TO USE ITS PREMISES UNDISTURBED.

Here is a TYPICAL AD in the regular Format they all use:

Hello,everybody,the good shoping place,offer fashion goods and

nfl jerseys throwback

classic,the new season was coming soon, click in. buy something

with your and your family!

===== http://www.shoppingone.org ====

Air jordan(1-24)shoes $33

UGG BOOT $50

Nike s h o x(R4,NZ,OZ,TL1,TL2,TL3) $33

Handbags(Coach lv fendi d&g) $33

Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $16

Jean(True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $30

Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,Armaini) $12

New era cap $9

Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $18

FREE SHIPPING

Accept Credit Card Payment!

If you believe, as I do, that Care2 has some RESPONSIBILITY towards its members.......

BMutiny T       Barbara