We've had a couple of messages today reporting SMS spam advertising Rapid Fire Marketing (RPDM.PK), which is also currently being promoted by email spam. Rapid Fire have disclaimed responsibility for the spams.
According to Ferris Research, SMS spam is on the increase, with 1.1 billion spams predicted for 2007. What makes SMS spam particularly unwelcome is that the recipient often has to pay a charge for receiving the unwanted messages: cost-shifting at its worst.
Out of around 500 messages in my spamtrap right now, slightly more than 23% have the word 'penis' in the Subject line. Almost 28% contain the word 'penis' in either the Subject or the body of the message. Neither of these figures include cases where a different word or an obfuscated form has been used, nor does it include Viagra and Cialis spam. All summed up, spam playing on male insecurity probably makes up more than 50% of the total load today.
Continue reading 'A certain measure'
The next time you can't sleep and can't summon the energy to do something more useful, try this simple experiment: go to social news site Digg, go to the Upcoming Stories section, and count the number of stories that have obviously been submitted by companies promoting their own websites. For a bonus, count the number of stories each has submitted.
Continue reading 'Getting the bastards'
Stock spammers, even more than other spammers, go to considerable lengths to get the message out. I've written about some of the attachment formats that they use, and about their use of alternative media such as fax, but that's not the end of the options open to them by any means.
One of our contacts at a national regulatory agency is looking at SMS stock spam. If you've received any SMS messages advertising stocks, please tell us about it. At a minimum, say which symbols were advertised. If you can give the date(s), or the text of the message, or any other information that you think might be useful, that would be even better. I will pass any messages that I receive on to our contact, but I won't share your name or email address unless you specifically tell me that it's OK to do so. Thanks in advance!
A couple of readers of the site pointed out that stock spam advertising EXTO.PK is now being sent in the form of MP3 attachments. I hadn't actually spotted these, but a quick check of the chaff bucket revealed a number of files with names like 'bspears.mp3', 'santana.mp3' etc. The files are low-quality, 30-40 seconds in length, with a synthetic female voice reciting a message about EXTO.PK and promising the usual imminent gains.
Continue reading 'Sweet sound of stock spam'