How unselfish and considerate some online marketing scamsters have become -- they've begun going as far as introducing you to their friends and signing you up for their programs FOR you!

I've received an e-mail announcing that I had a paycheck waiting. I'm used to getting such notifications when I've made an affiliate sale, but I didn't recognize the name of the sender - it wasn't one of my affiliates. Well, the link in the e-mail took me to a sales page asking me to sign up for their program. Apparently, the vendor expected me to have a paycheck waiting for him. Disappointing, but perhaps it was just a clerical error.

I've received an e-mail announcing that my Web site had been completed. Strange, because I have unlimited Web space on a personal server: I tend to already know when my Web sites are completed because I complete them myself. Well, the e-mail turned out to be true: My web site HAD been completed. But as the vendor's sales page explained, it was actually a copy of his affiliate site, and even though I hadn't ordered it, I was supposed to pay for it. I respectfully declined.

Most recently, I received an e-mail containing a product key. After you purchase downloadable software, you are sometimes e-mailed a computer code that allows you to activate and use it. The key word there, of course, is AFTER you make the purchase. I hadn't purchased any software to my knowledge, and further investigation took me to - you guessed it - ANOTHER sales page inviting me to buy the product that would allow me to use the product key!

There's nothing wrong with a vendor e-mailing you often if you've purchased his program. They ought to send you e-mails if they involve more information about the program, offer extra coaching, invite your feedback, or ask if you're having problems. But beware if the e-mails keep asking you to buy an additional program from a friend of theirs - and the vendor seems to have enough friends to fill a phone book!

The "friendship" usually consists of a tradeoff: in return for your vendor promoting his friend's product on his e-mail list, the friend gets to promote your vendor's product on HIS e-mail list! Since no e-mails are exchanged, they don't violate anyone's privacy. They cash in by signing up as each other's affiliates. They end up getting richer, you end up poorer, and now you've got an additional Internet marketing course you need to figure out.

I suppose I should just unsubscribe from the vendors' e-mail lists, but I would lose out on their entertainment value. Besides, I already have access to legitimate online marketing training at a good price - minus the annoying scam e-mails!