MorphZone recently recieved what appeared to be a bill from "Internet Corporation Listing Service." From top to bottom, this simply designed form looks like a power bill, phone bill, gas bill, etc. Dual sided, multi colored, with a description of services and the now famous line, "Please remit payment by...."

That simple statement which appears on credit card statements, car payments, and nearly every other bill is used to give the appearance of a real bill. This, of coarse, wasn't enough; no, ICLS included a "Customer Number" and a "Notice Date." In fact, the only thing that visably seperates this solicitation from a bill is some text (likely required by law).

In the end, this isn't a bill but a very carefully crafted advertisement. While the idea is far from new, I thought it would be a good to share this experience with everyone. Don't get caught by something that looks like a bill, but isn't.

I understand that many of us has tossed these kinds of things away before, but it occurred to me that this tactic may just work on those who don't know about it. In that light, I just wanted to share the word about such tactics used by cerain companies.