It smells like the drains have backed up again

Appleton Greene

This page has been changed from the original, in response to legal threat by Appleton Greene & Co. (hereinafter known as AGC). It is reposted in support of a US Federal Trade Commission filing. What remains is a fair and accurate record of AGC's communications when recruiting consultants, with comment on how they might infringe the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, as seen by a lay individual. This represents fair comment, protected under the principles of freedom of expression.
Date
20.08.2023
Changes
  1. Removed the name of AGC's employee who spammed me
  2. Comments on aspects of AGC's email use that may contravene the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 are highlighted: specifically, (a) the use of false and misleading From headers, (b) changing the From header, thus circumventing sender-based block rules, while the Reply-To header remained consistent, and (c) the sending of commercial messages without notice of advertisement
Date
15.09.2023
Change
Substituted AGC's full company name, other than where it appears in direct quotations (communications, email headers etc.).
Date
15.07.2026
Change
Moved the section on legal action to its own page so the record of AGC's business practices stands alone. I didn't want to do this while this post remained the subject of legal investigation. Nothing has been removed and it otherwise remains unchanged.

Appleton Greene & Co. is a niche corporate training provider offering standard and bespoke training programs for corporate clients. They contacted me as part of an unsolicited marketing outreach campaign. This is not the first contact that I've received from them.

According to their disclaimer, I originally subscribed to receiving information from Appleton Greene, which is an outrageous lie. The implication that I'd simply forgotten doing so is similarly outrageous. I do not remember doing this, for the simple reason that I didn't do it. And I didn't do it, for the even simpler reasons that (1) I'd never heard of AGC before their unsolicited, and unwanted, marketing outreach, and (2) I have no interest in the services they provide.

Besides, isn't the disclaimer rather contradicted by their admission that they'd identified me from my professional profile online? As for my kind interest in Appleton Greene, I've never had any.

The point of this post is to note that the contents of their email may not be disclosed, copied or distributed without the prior written consent of Appleton Greene & Co Global Limited, and then to do just that. After all, how can you hold a recipient to such a clause, when they've not first undertaken to abide by it through a signed and binding confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement? You can't, especially when your communication is unsolicited commercial email sent to a complete stranger who hasn't accepted an opt-in commitment. As for the email possibly being subject to legal privilege, legal privilege applies to a legal adviser and their client, not to a spammer and their victim; there is no legal relationship between AGC and I. Furthermore, despite me being the named recipient, this is clearly a template document that is sent to everyone on AGC's harvested shitlist.

From: Appleton Greene & Co <mail@agc-globalmail.com>
Reply-To: Appleton Greene & Co <administration@appletongreene.com>
Subject: Proposed Telephone Appointment with [snip]
Appleton Greene & Co Global Corporate Training Organization - International Consultancy 750 Certified Learning Providers (CLP) 650 Accredited Associate, Executive & Senior Consultants Global Client Network (GCN) incorporating 500,000 clients worldwide […] I hope you and your family are keeping safe and well […]. COURTESY REMINDER My name is Gillian Francis and I am contacting you again on behalf of Appleton Greene to see if you would be interested in having an exploratory telephone consultation with an Appleton Greene International Consultancy Officer (ICO). REASON FOR CONTACTING YOU Our Prospecting Department is in the process of head-hunting potential new consultants and learning providers for Appleton Greene, who currently service some 500k clients located within most major cities worldwide. We have identified you through your professional profile or web site online and I am reaching out because our Prospecting Department think that you might be a good fit. A FULL-SERVICE PROVIDER Appleton Greene is a full-service provider and takes care of all of the peripheral business functions that learning providers and consultants usually outsource. This includes: developing a tangible product for each learning provider and consultant, ensuring that there is a sustainable value proposition; client lead generation; client order processing; invoicing; credit control; quality management; continuous improvement; client reviews and testimonials; mediation and world class professional support. WHAT TO DO NOW If you are interested in pursuing this further, then you can arrange an exploratory 20-minute telephone consultation with one of Appleton Greene's International Consultancy Officers (ICO) by visiting the following page: BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT HERE You will be able to choose an appointment that is convenient for you and book your preferred appointment online in real time. NEED HELP? If you need any further clarification or assistance with anything, please do not hesitate to contact me personally by forwarding an email to administration@appletongreene.com and I will gladly help you in any way that I can. Thank you for your kind interest in Appleton Greene. Kind regards Gillian Francis Gillian M. Francis Client Account Manager Accredited Consulting Service (ACS) Appleton Greene & Co Global administration@appletongreene.com SERVICE DESCRIPTION Each corporate training program or consulting service is process-driven and is based on the unique core skills and experience of each individual learning provider or consultant. Please review both the (CLP) Information Guide and the (ACS) Information Guide, which will explain everything that you need to know about these opportunities. LEARNING PROVIDERS Certified Learning Providers (CLP) - $1m - $3m (CLP) Information Guide _______________________________ ACCREDITED CONSULTANTS Associate Consultants - $83.2k - 166.4k Executive Consultants - $166.4k - $332.8k Senior Consultants - $249.6k - $499.2k (ACS) Information Guide _______________________________ BENEFITS 1. Minimum client assignment: 12 months 2. Average client assignment: 5 years 3. Typical client portfolio: between 10-40 clients 4. Clients within most major cities worldwide 5. Improve your work-life balance _______________________________ INCOME AND COSTS Our Accredited Senior Consultants (ASC) earn between $250k-$500k annually and our Certified Learning Providers (CLP) earn $300k while training and then between $1m-$3m when qualified. Appleton Greene charges Senior Consultants an annual service fee of $1.5k plus a 10% service fee levied on all client revenue generated. Learning Providers pay a one-off tuition fee of $8k plus a 10% service fee levied on all client revenue generated. We are a full-service provider and as such we develop all of your new business for you. _______________________________ Further Information Certified Learning Providers - $1m - $3m (CLP) Further Information Associate Consultants - $83.2k - 166.4k Executive Consultants - $166.4k - $332.8k Senior Consultants - $249.6k - $499.2k (ACS) Further Information Feel free to contact us: Website Contact Form Customer Reviews (Independently Verified) Copyright © 2021 Appleton Greene & Co, All rights reserved. DISCLAIMER The contents of this e-mail and its attachments may be subject to legal privilege. The contents may not be disclosed, copied or distributed without the prior written consent of Appleton Greene & Co Global Limited. CONTACT DETAILS Telephone International: +1 (877) 464 5599 Telephone New York: +1 (212) 418 5225 Website Email NEW YORK OFFICE Appleton Greene & Co (USA), MetLife Building Executive Center, 200 Park Avenue, Suite 1700, New York City, NY 10166, United States of America. REGISTERED ADDRESS Appleton Greene & Co, 10190 PMB 53, Galleria Plaza, Grand Cayman KY1-1002, Cayman Islands. Company Registration Number: CM-284599. Extended Validation SSL Certificate: US Patent Number: 7,603,699. WHY YOU ARE RECEIVING THESE EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS You will have originally subscribed to receiving information from Appleton Greene, by completing an information, newsletter, service, program, or customer request form. However, if you do not remember doing this, or if you do not want to continue receiving these emails, then you are welcome to unsubscribe at any time. Simply click on the Unsubscribe link, copy the link into a new browser, or reply to this email inserting the word “Unsubscribe” within the subject line of your email and we will gladly process your request for you. UNSUBSCRIBE If you no longer wish to receive mail from us, you can Unsubscribe

Buried in the HTML code lay this tracking pixel:

<img alt="" src="http://tracking.appletongreene.email/tracking/open?msgid=[snip]" style="width:1px;height:1px">

Here we have two potential contraventions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.

Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business

In this communication, the From header is given as mail@agc-globalmail.com. It is not the same as the Reply-To header, it is not even the same domain as the Reply-To header, and it does not accurately identify the company.

Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.

Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business

This communication purports to be an outreach for consultant recruitment. However, they cannot know that the recipient is aware of the company and what it does—because email addresses were not obtained by opt-in methods, if my experience is anything to go by—therefore they have to make them aware. Furthermore, they offer consultant employment in exchange for training, for which they charge tuition and service fees. The proposal represents a commercial transaction, and consequently this communication is advertising, but at no point does it clearly and conspicuously disclose that it's an ad.

Athough not specifically mentioned as a contravention of the Act in the compliance guide, the use of an invisible tracking pixel image is a characteristic of spam messages; it's specific to the recipient and is hosted on a remote server to indicate that an email has been opened. There is absolutely no need for such a device in standard communications. The domain for that image, appletongreene.email, differs from those in the headers.

From: Appleton Greene & Co <mail@appletongreenemail.com>
Reply-To: Appleton Greene & Co <administration@appletongreene.com>
Subject: Proposed Telephone Appointment with [snip]

This is at least the second message that I've received from AGC in the intervening seven weeks. It appears that the company is not beyond changing, or falsifying, its mail From header to circumvent simple block sender rules. I am fully aware that AGC offers an unsubscribe link in their communications, but this is a common method used by spammers to verify live. It's the reason that many people rely on sender-based block rules instead. AGC appears to be attempting to sidestep them.

Here we have another potential contravention of the CAN-SPAM Act.

Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.

Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business

The From header gives the name of the company in the domain name, but it's different to that in the Reply-To header and it's different to those used previously, which is why it ended up in my inbox.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. This, on the other hand…(SMH)
The unexpurgated email is available to the FTC or other agencies by request.
From: Appleton Greene & Co <mail@appletongreenemailing.com>
Reply-To: Appleton Greene & Co <administration@appletongreene.com>
Subject: Proposed Telephone Appointment with [snip]

Yet another solicitation from AGC has appeared in my inbox, despite having added previous sender addresses to my junk senders list, by the simple expedient of changing the From header. (hmmm)

Here we have another potential contravention of the CAN-SPAM Act.

Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.

Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business

The From header gives the name of the company in the domain name, but it's different to that in the Reply-To header. This time, appletongreenemailing.com doesn't even resolve to the company's domain.

Until now, I'd ignored AGC's spam, other than to add the sender to my senders block list, and post whatever here. But now I responded.

Date: Tue, 24 May 2022 09:55:45 +0200
Subject: Re: Proposed Telephone Appointment with [snip]
To: Appleton Greene & Co <administration@appletongreene.com>
Dear Gillian Francis, According to your disclaimer, I originally subscribed to receiving information from your company, but have simply forgotten doing so. Isn't that rather contradicted by your admission that your Prospecting Department identified me as a good fit from my professional profile online? Nevertheless, I note that "The contents of this e-mail and its attachments may be subject to legal privilege. The contents may not be disclosed, copied or distributed without the prior written consent of Appleton Greene & Co Global Limited." So, I've done just that: I've posted the whole thing to my blog for laughs. Because it amuses me when low-rent spammers try to invoke unenforceable confidentiality claims for unsolicited email. What can you do about it? Now, please do feel free to go fuck yourself, and the board of Appleton Greene, on behalf of the bored of Appleton Greene.
blocked senders list
Persistent. Screenshot of my blocked senders list.