Dear TOTV Team: Any idea how this happened?

[Boomer]

Dear TOTV Team:

I have been on TOTV for way too long and have never received an unsolicited email. I have not shared my email address here except for when I registered.

Just now, I received an email from Lifestyle Venture Tours. It is an ad for trips. It says, "You have received this email because you have subscribed *for a newsletter. (*odd use of that preposition, I thought) It goes on to say, "You can always unsubscribe" yadda, yadda, which of course, I will do.

But my question is how did they get my email in the first place? I hope TOTV is not selling our email addresses. Surely not. I hope. That would create a real deluge of unwanted emails.

I have enough aggravation unsubscribing from getting an email every 15 minutes from businesses I order from online, but, at least, I initiated those contacts.

TOTV Team, do you know anything about how this could have happened? At the bottom of the page, it says "Village Update From Lifestyle Venture Tours." The advertising is definitely aimed at Villagers. But it is not from TV. This did not come through the email address I use for other TV connections.

It's a mystery.

Nancy Drew Boomer

[Nucky]

I'm with you Boomer I won an unsolicited trip the other day on here and today the View of the Forum has disappeared.

[Tom C]

:popcorn: ... watching ....waiting ....

[Madelaine Amee]

Not a mystery. That is the Travel Group that are doing business as The Villages Travel & Tour (https://thevillagestravel.com/).

I get emails from them every day, they do have some great looking day trips and I am going to assume that they got our information from The Villages themselves!

Do a Google search on the name, they are all over the USA.

[fw102807]

Not a mystery. That is the Travel Group that are doing business as The Villages Travel & Tour (https://thevillagestravel.com/).

I get emails from them every day, they do have some great looking day trips and I am going to assume that they got our information from The Villages themselves!

Do a Google search on the name, they are all over the USA.

Those tours appear to be quite different and I do not think they are affiliated with the Villages Tours but rather competitors.

[CWGUY]

Not a mystery. That is the Travel Group that are doing business as The Villages Travel & Tour (https://thevillagestravel.com/).

I get emails from them every day, they do have some great looking day trips and I am going to assume that they got our information from The Villages themselves!

Do a Google search on the name, they are all over the USA.

:ohdear: Think you may be wrong......

Those tours appear to be quite different and I do not think they are affiliated with the Villages Tours but rather competitors.

Think you may be correct..... and just what they were hoping for is happening. People think it is affiliated with The Villages

Anyone can say "village" and " Villages" is copyrighted.



The question unanswered is: Where did they get our email addresses?

[papasetti82]

Don't open those kind of EMAILS to unsubscribe.Just delete because when you open it they know you received it and you will keep getting email from them.It's called Phishing.

[fw102807]

:ohdear: Think you may be wrong......



Think you may be correct..... and just what they were hoping for is happening. People think it is affiliated with The Villages

Anyone can say "village" and " Villages" is copyrighted.



The question unanswered is: Where did they get our email addresses?

There are so many ways. If you have ever signed up at a fair to win a prize or from a site like FB that had their security breached or an inquiry to another company, just to name a few. I filter all emails that are not from one of my contacts into my junk mail folder so any malicious links are disabled.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Hmmm. I've also started getting them from the same travel group; what is going on TOTV team? Inquiring minds WOULD LIKE TO KNOW...……..

[Boomer]

Please hold on! I realized some of you might be missing my point.

I think some of you might have the idea that I think this is some kind of scam.

No, not at all.

Long, tedious, explanation in an attempt to clarify follows:

I did not for a minute think it was a scam. It says it is from Lifestyle Venture Tours. It even has a local address and a phone number. This "newsletter" was created on one of those DIY websites called smore.

It is obviously someone trying to advertise their local business.

This came through on an email address that I use only for ordering from big, known companies and for TOTV.

I am not on Facebook. I do not sign up for prizes. My official TV email where I get stuff about TV entertainment, and once in a while something from a sales agent, is a different email -- not the one I use for TOTV.

I do not begrudge someone the opportunity to try to do business. Once aqain, I do not think this is a scam. These advertised trips could be quite nice -- for all I know. But I don't like the approach of showing up with an email trying to convince me I subscribed to a newsletter and that is how I got this. Or did it mean that I "subscribed" to TOTV? Or is this company a new part of TOTV?

I don't mean to be acting like a dog with a bone, but darn it, my question is simple:

All I want is an answer as to whether TOTV knows about this and, if so, what happened?

The mystery continues.

I remain,
Nancy Drew Boomer

[TOTV Team]

During the registration process there is an email field required so we can send you an activation link via email to verify the account and as an anti spam and security measure.

TOTV does NOT and has never shared the registration emails with any entity.

If we can answer any further questions regarding this feel free to click the contact us at the bottom of the page.

We hope this helps.

Best Regards,

TOTV Team