The obligatory email exchange with the proverbial fraud
Published: Tue, 01/12/21
Credit card fraud, identify fraud, and even what I call “subscription fraud” — which is when some blue light special who I’ve banned from Email Players due to canceling in the past fraudulently tries sneaking back in.
Case in point:
Guy tries subscribing.
Using the dozen or so ways I am able to vet frauds who have cancelled in the past from returning I’ve developed over the years, I easily see he not only had subscribed just a few months earlier, but was clearly fraudulently trying to get back in.
Then comes the obligatory feigning of surprise:
“what is this about? I’m confused. I just signed up.”
Which prompts my obligatory:
“I don’t allow people back who have canceled in the past, this is not negotiable, good luck”
Which gets me the obligatory doubling down of fake surprise:
“I just heard about you…this is my first time. Not a great start/introduction to you and your newsletter”
To which I give the obligatory:
“go away”
To which I receive the obligatory self-projection reply of those who caught lying:
“LOL what the fuck? You, Sir, are a complete idiot.”
To which I end the conversation — and hopefully send the little fraud scurrying away forever — by showing screen shots from my cart of him lying and literally having signed up from just 3 months earlier, along with mocking his dorky “LOL” and repeating the command to go piss off.
And a merry time was had by me.
I suppose this is a “good” kind of fraud.
He was, after all, trying to give me money.
Certainly it’s better than the alternative types of fraud.
And while I don’t know if this email adds anything to your life, there is something to be said about the character & dignity of someone who admits when they done messed up, doesn’t try to be sneaky about it, and thus becomes a better & more successful person as a result.
Like this other ex-subscriber I heard from around the same time:
===
Hard to swallow pill.
No circle jerk here. I'm embarrassed that you're right about it all. I respect your principles.
The fact you DIDN’T have me back in the newsletter made me respect you more (not that it matters or a surprise).
I hope you never let me in.
I told my wife that I think you’re a butthole for not letting me back in, but I am not a moron, I know what I did.
Frankly I didn’t take you seriously.
Every B*TCH marketer lies about it when you’re out - you’re not back in.
YOU ARE RIGHT - that’s part of why you get the best customers, hell - I don’t care what you’re selling I'd buy it.
I guess I wanted to tell you off, but the truth hurts me. I agree with your choice. I DO miss out on your brilliance each month, it sucks, but that’s life.
But F*K YES that you stuck to your guns, this lesson was priceless.
===
Something to ponder:
There is power in having rules, sticking by them, and not budging.
That doesn't mean you can't make the occasional exception in extenuating circumstances for certain people (i.e., I once banned my business partner in Learnistic Troy Broussard from returning to "Email Players" & let him back afterwards - that was a bit awkward...) But by being a stickler for your own laws & rules, you not only protect your own business and your other customers, but you sometimes help others become better customers for the next guy. And it happens even as those with the mentality of children try to blame you for their own bad decisions, even as the social media mob of losers gangs up on you for it, and even as you see a (short term) dip in sales in the interest of curating your list so only the best & highest quality customers are in your life.
I’ve had this policy for many years.
And I have never once regretted it.
Won't explain further here.
But, I did do a video once more about the importance of these kinds of policies.
You can watch or listen to it here:
https://learnistic.me/9wjz
Ben Settle