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The Spam Omelette #36

Welcome to a new issue of our Spam Omelette, the weekly review focused on the latest trends in the spam industry. Before moving forward with the material, please take a look at our testing and map generation methodology, as explained in our first issue.

Week in review: July 29 - August 5

1. EMAIL me again

Ranking first in this week's spam top, the word EMAIL has been identified in unsolicited messages coming from Canadian Pharmacy. During the months, we have seen quite a number of legitimate newsletters transformed into spam templates. Here's a fresh one announcing 10 summer health tips, but only displaying advertisements to sexual enhancements such as counterfeit Viagra and Cialis pills. A video explaining the phenomenon can be watched online at http://edu.bitdefender.com/. 

2. PLEASE stop spamming

The word PLEASE has been identified by BitDefender's spam analysts in spam messages also related to Canadian Pharmacy.  This spam wave is also abusing a legitimate newsletter template with a central image advertising Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, spammers use e-mail subjects likely to attract gamers' attention. Warcraft accounts wait, Your WOW subscription has expired or Abnormal activity with your WOW account are some of the mail subjects used in this spam wave.

 

3. PRIVACY & POLICY working hand in hand

During the first half of 2009, more than 50 percent of the worldwide spam is related to medicine (especially Viagra, Cialis and Levitra) with Canadian Pharmacy as top spammer. Given the fact that Canadian Pharmacy is abusing legitimate newsletters in order to promote their products, words such as Privacy, Policy and Unsubscribe are often present in our weekly issues of the Spam Omelette.

4. CLICK me if you dare!

Ranking fourth in our weekly spam top, the word CLICK has been identified mostly in multiple spam waves also coming from Canadian Pharmacy. Most of these messages have been forged to look as if they had been sent by the recipients themselves. In order to increase click rates on the embedded spam links, some of the messages make use of short URL services such as www.bit.ly. This way, the user won't be able to tell if the message was legit or not until they visit the link.

5. ACAI and the weight loss story

Summer has always been the best time to promote shady weight loss alternatives, given the fact that most of the people would dream of getting the best physical shape prior to going to the seaside. Acai Berry Pills have been promoted for quite some time, but it seems that  spammers are ramping up the message count per day in order to get the most from this summer holiday.