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The Spam Omelette #39 - Pfizer discounts and news that never happened

Welcome to this week’s issue of the Spam Omelette, BitDefender’s report on spam trends and techniques. If you happen to have joined later our newsletter, please do have a look on our testing methodology and spam map generation procedures before proceeding with today’s article.

1. Canadian Pharmacy says PLEASE

This week's most abused word in spam is PLEASE, identified by BitDefender's spam analysts in messages coming from Canadian Pharmacy. The online medicine shop is now delivering messages in mail templates with extra footer information, such as "subscription" management, unsubscribe options and even a so-called contact link to get in touch with the senders. However, the data has been forged, so you'd better not click any embedded links.

 

2. CLICK here for... aspirin

The word CLICK has been identified in unsolicited messages also coming from Canadian Pharmacy. Known as the number one spammer in the word, the business is using any means of deceiving its victims into opening these promotional messages, including breaking news announcements such as "Burn war in LA", or silly questions such as "Who have aspirin".

3. UNSUBSCRIBE from Viagra

Ranking third in our weekly top, the word UNSUBSCRIBE has been identified in messages heavily advertising Viagra knock-off pills also delivered by Canadian Pharmacy. This time, spammers turned back to the simple, blue email template used by the MSN News service, with minor modifications to include a picture.

4. Your spam EMAIL is here!

The word EMAIL has been identified in messages advertising a wide range of pharmaceutical products (especially Cialis, Viagra and Levitra) using the same old strategy: injecting a suggestive image in the mail template of a legitimate message.

5. Dating MESSAGE from the Nigerian scammer

It is known that Nigerian scam messages are elaborate and intricate creations meant to dazzle the user and make it easier for the sender to con them. This specific spam wave takes things one step further by sending a message pointing to articles about relationships and marriage. The decision of embedding such links is currently unknown, especially since they are neither related to the con, nor forged to pose any security risk for the recipient.