Wednesday, September 12, 2007

TD Ameritrade Spam Frustrations

I write about TD Ameritrade so much that I've considered calling my blog "The Unofficial TD Ameritrade Blog". Anyway, I am still receiving spam at my Ameritrade and Waterhouse Email addresses. It is getting very frustrating. In a previous post on the topic, I mentioned how I use a unique Email address for my Ameritrade accounts. What is particularly frustrating is that now many of these spam messages are making it through my spam filter.

I know that I am not the first person to write about getting SPAM at my Ameritrade Email address, as it has been reported by other PF bloggers. I created a unique Email address for my Ameritrade account through Yahoo's "AddressGuard" feature. The only entity that knows my Ameritrade Email address is Ameritrade itself. However, I have been getting spam at this address. Whenever this happens, I change my Email address to a new one, and delete the old Email address.

This has happened at least four or five times already (I lost count). However, it is the first time that the Email address that I used for Waterhouse has been compromised. I currently receive similar spam at both my Ameritrade and Waterhouse Email addresses. I have also been getting correspondence from other bloggers who are experiencing the same issue with TD Ameritrade.

Through my site meter, I have some insight about who reads my blog. I can confirm that employees of TD Ameritrade read my blog regularly, and that they are very much aware of the spam issue. The site meter typically shows Ameritrade employees as accessing my blog from either Nebraska, New York, or New Jersey. In some cases, employees of TD Ameritrade have been specifically searching for "Ameritrade spam" on the web. However, these readers have never responded to any posting that I've made; the silence from TD Ameritrade employees is deafening. Perhaps TD Ameritrade has a policy of not allowing its employees to comment in public forums.

In any case, I hope that TD Ameritrade gets it act together soon. They really need to plug up the holes in their security.

DC

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't their system get hacked ? maybe that's where they took all user info.

I think because of this they should offer free trades for a month. TDAmeritrade employees are you reading this ?

pfstock said...

Shortly after I posted this article about TD Ameritrade Spam, PFStock received several dozen visits from computers located in Omaha, and Jersey City. This is where TD Ameritrade has many of its operations, so I know that their employees are definitely reading my blog.

Two days after my article was published, TD Ameritrade announced that they discovered "unauthorized code that allowed an external source to retrieve certain client information" from their system. How can this "unauthorized code" magically appear in their software? It sounds like an inside job to me. Maybe TD Ameritrade has a few disgruntled employees...

True to form, none of my Ameritrade visitors has made any comment on the issue.

Anonymous said...

"OK!" "I am a former TD Ameritrade employee and I will give you JUST WHAT THEY would give you...NOTHING!!" TD AMERITRADES security is a JOKE!! They recently fired 4 or 5 stockbrokers who were writing UNCOVERED CALLS and approving them themselves...much like a BANKER might take $100k from a CASH TILL to bet on some philly at Prospect Park!" This WHOLE COMPANY is a JOKE and I do not know HOW it has avoided BANKRUPTCY up until now!" TD AMERITRADE is a SICK JOKE!

Anonymous said...

"Other than that?" "TD AMERITRADE is 'O.K.!"

QUALITY STOCKS UNDER 5 DOLLARS said...

Spam can be a problem.