Last Sunday morning, I was awakened by the buzzing of my cell phone as I received a text at 5:53 am.

The text was from VIPStockPicks, and they were advertising that if I was one of the first 777 people that follow their link and enter the code 777, I would receive “Real-Time Penny Stock Alerts!” Woohoo.

From a legitimate marketing perspective, I’m trying to figure out how anyone would decide that sending me an unsolicited, untargeted and unwanted text at 5:53 on a Sunday morning was a good idea.

Not only would I not respond to it, but I could only end up very angry at the perpetrator of the text.

But I’m sure it’s not a legitimate marketer. My guess is it’s a scam. However, even if it’s a scam, don’t they want it to work? If you’re going to take the time to execute a scam, don’t you want people to participate?

If they want me to acknowledge their text in any way, wouldn’t they have a better chance by at least hitting me maybe during the work day – when I’m already dealing with a higher flow of digital information?

Aside from interrupting a really nice night of sleep, I’m not sure what they thought was going to come of it. On sheer principle, I will not acknowledge anyone who cold texts me.

It’s very similar to my standing rule that I will not vote for any candidate who sends a representative to ring my doorbell uninvited. (I suppose that, in fairness, I should have a sign on the front door to let them know…)

– My name is Jon Friesch, and I guess I’ll be getting my real-time penny stock alerts elsewhere.