The Spam Omelette #42

Week
in Review: September 9 – 16

 

1. WebMD
spoofed newsletters get back in the game

Remember WebMD, the legitimate online resource on health and
diets? The company’s brand has been thoroughly abused earlier this year by
Canadian Pharmacy spammers, who ripped WebMD’s newsletters and rigged them
images depicting Canadian Pharmacy current offering. After a couple of months
of absence, spammers have re-embraced the WebMD approach.

 

2. WEIGHT
loss is always fancy

Although summer’s almost gone, spammers are still targeting
people willing to drop a few pounds – if not to look good on the beach, at
least to impress during swimming pool sessions. Here is a fast and – of course
– unapproved method of losing some extra weight, along with some extra cash:
the miraculous Acai Berry product. Please note that these “%100 natural and
safe”products are not approved by any medical commission. More than that,
payments made to online stores that promote themselves through spam may not be
the wisest idea.

3. NEWSLETTERS,
more newsletters

Ranking third in this week’s spam top, the word NEWSLETTER
has been identified by BitDefender’s spam specialists in messages advertising
Canadian Pharmacy products. Disguised as a newsletter, the mail template has
been modified in order to display a central image with the currently running
offerings. This is a common practice among spammers, who disguise their illegal
activities as recommendations coming from MSN, Yahoo and other trustworthy
brands.

4. Help
me UNSUBSCRIBE!

The word UNSUBSCRIBE has been spotted in the same spam wave
as the above-mentioned campaign. In order to increase victims’ interest,
spammers have included celebrity names in the message subject. Needless to say
that all the links embedded in the alleged newsletter have been tampered with
to redirect the unwary user to the Canadian Pharmacy website.

5. Urban
planning delivered via EMAIL

Ranking last in this week’s spam top, the word EMAIL has
been detected in messages also coming from Canadian Pharmacy. Disguised as a
newsletter on urban planning and architecture, the message contains an
image-based catalog of sexual enhancements and prescription-based drugs.