Spam Campaigns Use Tragedy and Holiday Themes to Attract Users

According to the "State of Spam Report (July 2009)" from the security company Symantec, spammers chiefly employed tragedy themes relating to celebrities' deaths and holiday topics to craft their deceptive e-mails.

Evidently, some highlights depicted in spam mails during July 2009 have been the US Independence Day celebration and Michael Jackson's sudden demise.

The report states that as Internet surfers continue to display interest in the life and demise of Michael Jackson, more e-threats will appear exploiting the public's curiosity and emotions about this event.

Since June 25, 2009 when Jackson died, many spammers have been unleashing nasty e-mail scams containing enticing captions relating to possible murder or the singer is still living, infecting people's computers with malicious software so as to obtain confidential information from their victims.

Moreover, Symantec reports that while phishing campaigns involving Independence Day-based e-mails have become common and spam mails relating to Jackson's death continue, a new spam scam is currently circulating that pretends to be an invitation from a Twitter friend.

According to Symantec, it noticed a 21% increase in phishing attacks over May, 2009. In June 2009, over 143 Web hosting services supported 10% of the total number of phishing attacks, contributing a 96% increase over May 2009. Additionally, Symantec reports that non-English phishing websites grew 21% and a novel phishing trick was detected, which phishers employed within a campaign that targeted the Tax Office of Australia.

Besides, the security company states that the distinctive assaults globally increased 27% over May 2009 largely because phishers were able to elude the tactics designed for phishing alleviation.

Dylan Morss, Senior Manager of anti-spam Engineering at Symantec, said that lot of people were currently expressing immense apprehension regarding phishing, as reported by SCMagazineUS on July 10, 2009. Morss added that the threat of phishing was greatly occupying users' minds as it resulted in privacy invasion for corporations, leading to damage of reputation.

Finally, the report predicts more end-of-the-year vacation-based e-mail campaigns during December 2009 than was in 2008.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 8/3/2009