Letters from the FBI - The Spam Omelette #49

Week in Review: October 28 - November 04

1. Pirated SOFTWARE selling on discount

The word SOFTWARE ranks first in this week's issue of the Spam Omelette and has been detected in messages advertising cheap OEM software (applications that only accompany certain computer hardware  components.  Selling OEM software as a standalone product is enough of a crime to break the EULA, but a closer look on the website reveals that these products are not even OEM software - they are "cracked", pirated copies of popular software.

2. Spoofed WebMD newsletters back in the game

WebMD is one of the legitimate brands that have a long tradition in being abused by medical spammers. Building on the company's reputation, spammers use the brand to lure unwary users into opening the message.  As usually, abusers modified a WebMD newsletter in order to display a central image with the currently-running Canadian Pharmacy promotional offer.

3. Adobe software for half the price

Ranking third in this week's issue of the Spam Omelette, the brand name Adobe has been detected in medium-size spam wave advertising heavily discounted products from the popular software house.  The spammers don't even bother to camouflage their offering as OEM software - in a second spam wave, they advertise it as Warez ( a generic term describing pirated commercial software).

4. Getting back at the FBI

The word BACK ranks fourth in this week's spam top and has been mostly detected in messages allegedly coming from the FBI Crime Commission. The notice warns the user of a suspicious transaction in the victim's name and also details on the legal issues they might encounter if they do not reply the message. This is a classic phishing scheme, where the victim has to provide their banking credentials in order to avoid trouble.

5. Need pills? We're here to steal your money!

Ranking fifth in this week's issue of the Spam Omelette, the word PILLS has been detected in medicine spam coming from Canadian Pharmacy.  Medicine spam accounts for more than 50 percent of the worldwide spam and responding these offerings may significantly damage your bank account. Many times, online vendors charge customers for their orders, but "forget" to send the products. Users are often too ashamed of what they had ordered to report these incidents to the authorities.