Structured Thought . ORG

On May 1, the makers of Hydroxycut, the shady weight-loss miracle drug, recalled the product due to a statement by the FDA telling consumers “to immediately stop using Hydroxycut products”¹

The problem appears to be that the use of the product is bad for your liver. Apparently, REALLY bad for your liver. I mean, REALLY REALLY bad. I’ll let the FDA’s statement lay it out for you:

The FDA has received 23 reports of serious health problems ranging from jaundice and elevated liver enzymes, an indicator of potential liver injury, to liver damage requiring liver transplants. One death due to liver failure has been reported to FDA. Other health problems reported include seizures; cardiovascular disorders; and rhabdomyolysis, a type of muscle damage that can lead to other serious health problems such as kidney failure.

That’s right. While only 23 complaints have arisen, it’s very likely that there are many more people who started to notice an adverse effect and just quit using it (the smart people, as I like to refer to them). Some people, who had to have noticed some adverse effects, continued to use the products to the point of permanently damaging their livers, one so much that they died (the not-so-smart people, as I like to refer to them).

Anyway, this is all beside the point I came here to make. What I came here to say was that in only 10 days, I have started recieving SPAM e-mail regarding the recall. I know it’s spam for a few reasons:

1. The ‘from:’ domain is remarkheavensbr.net, which points to just a parking site with no content at all (not even html headers).
2. The ’subject:’ line is grammatically incorrect: “FDA Recall Hydroxycut”. They could have at least said “FDA Recalls Hydroxycut” or “FDA Recall of Hydroxycut (products)”, or any other permutation.
3. The real kicker: The entire content of the e-mail is images, which likely link back to a tracking site somewhere that validates your e-mail address, were your mail client to download the images.

So, I have no idea what this SPAM is advertising, not as if I cared. I just thought it was pretty interesting how quickly these lowlifes jump on new bandwagons.

Someday, I envision a future where the webbernets are SPAM-free, and anyone caught abusing the system in such a way is strung up in a public forum. But that’s just me.