You've got a point. Why would anyone want to buy a product from someone who was deliberately and obviously trying to con them. Even if it was a desirable product? The same thing goes for those links that grab your system so you can't get out, forcing you to either cntrl-alt-delete, reboot, or even kill the power just to disengage.

These people must not have too much respect for their customers, and I am perfectly ready to return the favor.

As I approach 65, both my email and snail mail are carpet bombed with marketing for old farts, people telling me about insurance, mortgage refi, medicines, etc. Many of these are disguised to look like official communications, and a lot of them are in Spanish, no doubt due to my surname.

Your counters to this activity are clever, and no doubt effective, but most people using home computers aren't sufficiently computer literate to use these strategies. Besides, it puts the onus on protecting himself on the victim, not on the perpetrator.

Legitimate businessmen and marketers should realize these creeps are hurting their businesses too, by undermining consumer confidence. They need to play a more active role in policing their own ranks, or lobbying the authorities to do so.