The German stock spam business continues to evolve. I've just seen the first image-based German-language stock spam, pushing Stonebridge Resources (a US company traded on German exchanges, now shaping up to become as big a feature on the German stock spam scene as it is on the US).
March 2007 Archives
Germany calling
27 March 2007 - 09:35 PM | PermalinkGerman stock spam now appears to be a well-established phenomenon. Since the start of the year, we've counted fifteen stocks traded on German exchanges being advertised by spam, and new ones are added every few days. For the moment, all the spam appears to be sent by a single sender.
Continue reading 'Germany calling'
A swine for all seasons
17 March 2007 - 11:19 AM | PermalinkThere's a happy irony in the fact that it's the 'pigbacon.com' redirector owned by Unknown Bulker 003 that always seems to get used for ads promoting 4 Seasons Wine ... whose domain name I keep misreading as 4 season swine.
Esoterica
13 March 2007 - 07:27 AM | PermalinkSpam-based scams are getting stranger. Yesterday, I received a message in Portuguese inviting me to join the Order of the Knights Templar. My name, they claim, was given to them by a member of the Order, which is remarkable given that I only know about four people in Brazil (it appears to be the Brazilian branch of the Templars who have selected me for this remarkable honor) and I didn't think that any of them were Templars. To be honest, I thought my acquaintances were all leftist radicals, so either the Templars have been infiltrated by the left, or the left has been infiltrated by the Templars. Possibly both.
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Operation Spamalot
08 March 2007 - 09:28 PM | PermalinkThe SEC has taken action, imposing a 10-day suspension on 35 penny stocks that have recently been advertised by spam. In a press release, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said that the action sent a clear message to spammers
. Pink Sheets CEO Cromwell Coulson told Forbes Magazine that the suspended stocks won't be traded on the Pink Sheets exchange in future.
Continue reading 'Operation Spamalot'
Auch Deutsch
06 March 2007 - 08:52 AM | PermalinkIt began, rather tentatively, with a single spam for Gontard Metallbank (GMB.DE). Then came a trickle of spams for Amatech AG (TXAG.F). And then those were joined in quick succession by spams for Agiv Real Estate (AGV.DE). Yes, the German stock spammers have arrived.
Continue reading 'Auch Deutsch'
Because I can
01 March 2007 - 07:49 AM | PermalinkJust for the hell of it, I decided to wire my collection systems up to send out announcements via Twitter. If you're a Twitter user, you can now get half-hourly updates on spam activity at twitter.com/spamnation.
Continue reading 'Because I can'