The Spam Omelette #56

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Week
in Review: January 6 – 13

1. Your
E-MAIL address belongs to us!

This week’s number one spam word
is E-MAIL, and it has been mostly
detected in messages promoting counterfeit Viagra and Cialis pills from world’s
top spammer, Canadian Pharmacy. The online store continues to use small-size
image-based messages impersonating newsletters. More than that, every single
link included in the message body leads the user to a clone of the website.
These websites are now hosted on randomly-generated, 9-character domains (qu******h.cn)
purchased via a Chinese registrar.

 

 

2. Privacy, Policy, Copyright and Unsubscribe,
all-in-one

On the second place, we don’t
have a single word, as usually, but rather a group of four words that are
closely interconnected and like to “travel” in the same messages. The
above-mentioned terms have been identified by BitDefender’s spam researchers in
a large wave of unsolicited mail also coming from Canadian Pharmacy. They are
part of the footer disclaimer in newsletter-like messages. Rather than
performing the mentioned task, these hyperlinks take the user to various copies
of Canadian Pharmacy online stores.

 

3. Having any DIFFCULTY? Please CLICK here!

Ranking second in this issue of the Spam Omelette, the word DIFFICULTY has been
spotted by BitDefender’s spam researchers in image-based messages sent by
Canadian Pharmacy. The full text advises users that, should they be unable to
see the embedded image, they may click on a link in order to view the
“newsletter” as HTML contents.

 

4. CONTACT us if you need more spam!

The word CONTACT takes the fourth
place and has been detected in two medium-sized spam campaigns. While the
former spam wave tries to sell sexual enhancements (knockoff Viagra and
Cialis), the latter presents the services offered by the”China-based” webdesign
company we talked about in our previous issues of the Spam Omelette.

5. Counterfeit software PRODUCTS on discount!

Ranking last in this week’s issue
of the Spam Omelette, the word products has been mostly associated with
messages promoting counterfeit software from miscellaneous websites.

This medium-sized spam wave uses
multiple subject tag lines to lure unwary users into opening the email, such as
“Want to Speak another Language?” or “Download Windows-7 at incredible discount”.

Although these offerings are
presented as genuine software at a dramatically discounted price (since you
don’t get the “expensive user manual” and DVD cover), they are in fact
pirated  copies downloaded using
file-sharing applications.