Shay Mitchell's Luggage Brand May Have Broken the Law With Its Controversial Email to Customers

"Last week, Béis customers woke up to a startling email. "Action required: Fraud alert," read the subject line of a message sent by the Shay Mitchell-founded luggage brand at about 2 a.m. EST, according to multiple screenshots shared online. But Béis didn't draft this email to warn customers about suspiciously-placed orders, password leaks, or phishing scams, as its stress-inducing subject line seems to suggest. Instead, the brand simply announced that it was going to continue offering discounts on its products following Black Friday."

""The fraud is us... sale now extended," the body of the email said. This marketing move frustrated several customers. "As someone who has been a victim of fraud [three] times this past week, this email really pissed me off," one Reddit user wrote in a thread about the email. "I got this and immediately unsubscribed," another said on Threads. Béis wasn't alone in getting creative with emails and social media posts this Black Friday season."

"According to a post by Taylor Tieman, an attorney who specializes in business and intellectual property law, the luggage brand's email stunt might even lead to legal problems. Under the Federal Trade Commission's CAN-SPAM Act, businesses are prohibited from sending commercial emails with "deceptive subject lines," meaning those that don't "accurately reflect the content of the message." Brands that don't comply with this federal law are subject to penalties of up to about $53,000 per email."

Béis sent an email with the subject line "Action required: Fraud alert" that announced an extended Black Friday sale. The email's body read "The fraud is us... sale now extended," which angered customers who had experienced real fraud and led some to unsubscribe. Other brands employed similar provocative holiday marketing tactics, including fake apology posts. Legal experts warned that the email could violate the CAN-SPAM Act's ban on deceptive subject lines. The Federal Trade Commission allows penalties up to about $53,000 per violating email, and industry professionals called for consequences.

Read at Inc