While marketing of tobacco products has come under fire for years and years, limiting where a logo can be seen, limiting the mediums that can be used and limiting their targeted audience, tobacco marketing has now submitted to the lowest of all forms, mass marketing email, aka: SPAM.

Based in Switzerland, getmycigs.com has created an affiliate program that is opening a very large can of worms and their pocketbooks to affiliate based email marketing. GetMyCigs.com is offering a commission to marketers to sell name brand cigarettes including Marlboro, Camel, Salem and Winston to anyone that can weild a credit card their way.

How did we come to know about GetMyCigs.com? Multiple California based email marketing companies have started SPAM emailing of tobacco products on a very rapid cycle over the last few weeks. The marketers, ztabb.com, ebarks.com and efunseek.com located in Redondo Beach and two in Marina Del Rey using affiliate codes 11646252-243-45-3, 107-1678260-329-46-3 and 1678260-471-63-3 respectively, along with the image providers of imgserver.net and azooimages.com, both owned by Azoogle Inc. located in Ontario Canada, have been using the email title Planet Cigs that directs your click traffic to GetMyCigs.com via their servers.

The first marketer, ztabb.com, established thier domain on December 5th 2003 and is owned by ztabb.com. Using the normal sources such as Yellow Pages, 411 and more we were completely out of luck locating a company named ztabb.com and none of the other merchants located in the strip mall in Redondo Beach at the same address know of a company ztabb.com located there.

The second marketer, ebarks.com, established their domain December 31st of 2003 and is owned by E Barks Network. Using the normal sources such as Yellow Pages, 411 and more we were completely out of luck locating a company named E Barks Network. After doing a reverse directory on the address listed in the WHOIS for the domain ebarks.com I was able to locate many businesses in the mall but only one was computer related. After trying multiple times to reach them and only getting an answering machine without any reference to their business name I decided to have a drive by done on the address listed.

The third marketer, efunseek.com, established their domain December 31st of 2003, the same day as ebarks.com was, and is showing that it is owned by E Fun Seek. Again, using the normal sources such as Yellow Pages, 411 and more we were completely out of luck locating a company named E Fun Seek. And since E Fun Seek was showing the same address information as E Barks Network, I just searched for both at the same time.

All three SPAM marketers useds one of two image servers for their emails. One being imgserver.net and the other being azooimages.com.

The first, imgserver.net was established December 18th 2003 and was shown as owned by Azoogle Inc. located in Thornhill Ontario Canada. Azoogle is of course infamous for their "email marketing" systems.

The second, azooimages.com was established the same date as imgserver.net, December 18th 2003 and is shown to be owned by the same Azoogle Inc. as is imgserver.net.

Then of course there is the name servers of all the domains listed above. This even makes it all more interesting.

ztabb.com = a.ns.ztabb.com and b.ns.ztabb.com
ebarks.com = ns1.freehostingdns.biz and ns2.freehostingdns.biz
efunseek.com = ns1.freehostingdns.biz and ns2.freehostingdns.biz
imgserver.net = DNS01.EXODUS.NET/DNS02.EXODUS.NET/DNS03.EXODUS.NET/DNS04.EXODUS.NET
azooimages.com = DNS01.EXODUS.NET/DNS02.EXODUS.NET/DNS03.EXODUS.NET/DNS04.EXODUS.NET

* ztabb.com's DNS being ztabb.com means that the server that the domain is on is also the DNS.
* ebarks.com, located in Marina Del Ray is using a DNS located in Redondo Beach California at the very same address that ztabb.com is located and now is the home of freehostingdns.biz which is registered to Free Hosting DNS.
* efunseek.com, located in Marina Del Ray is using a DNS located in Redondo Beach California at the very same address that ztabb.com is located and now is the home of freehostingdns.biz which is registered to Free Hosting DNS.

Here is what the actual marketing path looks like:

Flow of the sale

So after all of that investigation what is the net result?

The SPAM email marketing campaigns are based in California and sent to an unknown number of email recipients. These recipients are not screened in any way so this means that the California based marketing is targeting children as well.

These marketers, obviously associated, are registered affiliate marketers for Azoogleads.com, or Azoogle Inc.

Azoogle Inc. is marketing for the Switzerland based GetMyCigs.com.

And GetMyCigs.com is selling tobacco products that are supposed to be brand name products at less than half the cost of a carton currently in California.

GetMyCigs.com, if on the up and up, is using the following to be able to send tobacco products into the U.S.:

[Code of Federal Regulations]
PART 275--IMPORTATION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND CIGARETTE PAPERS AND TUBES

Subpart E--Packages
Sec. 275.75 Exemptions.

The provisions of this subpart requiring that tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes be put up in packages and that proper notice be placed on such packages shall not apply to imported tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes authorized to be released from customs custody, without payment of internal revenue tax, pursuant to Sec. 275.50, and shall not apply to tobacco products imported in passengers' baggage, or by mail where the value does not exceed $250,
where such products are solely for the personal consumption of the importer or for disposition as his bona fide gift.

Azoogle Inc. is collecting income from the marketing campaign that GetMyCigs.com has with them.

And the SPAMmers in California are generating income from either the number of emails sent, the number of exposures that are trackable by Azoogle Inc. via the images being served by Adzoogle Inc., the number of click thrus that are trackable by Azoogle Inc. via the images and links being tracked by Adzoogle Inc., or as a commission when goods are sold by GetMyCigs.com.

Is what GetMyCigs.com is doing legal in Switzerland, Canada and the United States?

Based on what I was able to find relative to importation of tobacco via the ATF website, yes when it comes to shipping. But a big question mark when it comes to their marketing programs.

Is what Azoogle Inc. is doing legal in Canada and the United States?

In May of 1988 the Tobacco Sales to Young Persons Act (TSYPA) went into effect. The TSYPA forbid the sale of or the giving of tobacco products to persons under 18. This also required that all vending machines be removed. And in 1993 the legal age for purchasing was raised to 18. In April of 1997 the TSYPA and the Tobacco Products Control Act were replaced by The Tobacco Act. This covered standards for tobacco products, regulates access to tobacco, sets the rules for labeling and promotion of tobacco products, and puts in place rules for enforcing tobacco laws.

Canada's tobacco laws are clear about how tobacco products can be promoted. They read:
19 No person shall promote a tobacco product or a tobacco product-related brand element except as authorized by this Act or the regulations.

Who is authorized?
22(1) Subject to this section, no person shall promote a tobacco product by means of an advertisement that depicts, in whole or in part, a tobacco product, its package or a brand element of one or that evokes a tobacco product or a brand element.
(2) Subject to the regulations, a person may advertise a tobacco product by means of information advertising or brand-preference advertising that is in
(a) a publication that is provided by mail and addressed to an adult who is identified by name;
(b) a publication that has an adult readership of not less than eighty-five per cent; or
(c) signs in a place where young persons are not permitted by law.

Well, with that stated, Adzoogle Inc. falls very short of knowing a persons name, if their SPAMmers are reaching an 85 percent adult audience or know that the SPAMmers emails are going to adults only locations.

What is Adzoogle Inc. putting at risk to handle this tobacco marketing program for GetMyCigs.com? Well, section 58 from Canada pretty much says it all:
58: If an offender has been convicted of an offence under this Act and the court is satisfied that as a result of the commission of the offence the offender acquired any monetary benefits or that monetary benefits accrued to the offender, the court may order the offender to pay, despite the maximum amount of any fine that may otherwise be imposed under this Act, an additional fine in an amount equal to the court's estimation of the amount of those monetary benefits.

And what about the California SPAMmers? Well, since their businesses do not exist, their phone number disconnected in the SPAM and the link to be removed from the list forwarding you right to Adzoogle Inc., they are pretty much breaking more laws than Carter's has little pills. Marketing tobacco to children, Ilegal emails and being paid to do it by Adzoogle Inc.

So should tobacco be marketed via direct email? Sure! As long as the list is opted into and it is confirmed that the person receiving the email is of the legal age and they address it directly to that person.

Should Adzoogle be investigated by Canada? Yes! They are marketing directly against the Canadian laws.

And what about GetMyCigs.com? GetMyCigs.com, as per the SPAM was Corso San Gottardo 32: Chiasso 6830: CH - Switzerland. When I ran the WHOIS on the GetMyCigs.com domain it was registered to a Remo Denato at that address. Established May 1st of 2003, GetMyCigs.com was a relatively newly developed domain. But where the real issue came in was when I visited the domain. Boldy showing on the home page was the top 6 selling brand/styles in the United States at the really low price of $14.95 which included shipping. Under the title "Our Customers Love Us", taking up a third of the front page was customer statements. The two showing proudly showed their TX and PA origins. The most obvious thing was that the page was also only available in English. No French, no Spanish, no other language buttons available. Then came the clincher that GetMyCigs.com was marketing only to a specific market. A statement at the top of the product and shipping information page that said "The cigarettes are shipped directly to the USA and Canada from our warehouse in Switzerland. Please allow 2 to 4 weeks to receive your cartons after placing an order. Or for an additional $2.45 your order will be shipped through Priority Mail for faster delivery. Our cigs are of the highest quality and are guaranteed fresh".

Showing on the product list were products from Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, American Tobacco, as well as other brand/styles such as Davidoff, Dunhill, Multifilter and Gauloises.

Should you buy tobacco products from GetMyCigs.com? Well, they may be on the up and up but the old saying still comes to mind that said that something that is too good to be true normally is. And of course there is the bit about supporting the not so legal activities of the SPAMmers in California and the marketing agent in Canada.

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