Innovative Spam

SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
edited July 2003 in Science & Tech
A new form of SPAM is apparently starting to appear, SPAM that tries to pass itself off as a recognisable and reputable company. I myself get about 50 spam messages a day, the thought of SPAM getting smarter is a worrying thought, my junk mail filter has a hard enough time as it is.
SurfControl plc execs say "brand spoofing," in which a spammer disguises E-mail to make it appear as if it's from a trusted company in order to extract personal information such as account details and Social Security numbers, is a growing and dangerous form of spam. Among the companies that have been brand spoofed in recent months are Best Buy, UPS, Bank of America, PayPal and First Union Bank, according to SurfControl.

The full report:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=XWSKM0FQKAY5EQSNDBCSKH0CJUMEIJVN?articleID=10818424

Comments

  • hitokirihitokiri NYC
    edited July 2003
    Thats a pretty drity trick. I remember seeing one disguised as an Email from Microsoft's Tech base or something.

    I hope the new Spam laws come soon,
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Even if the email were Microsoft...w ould have been any better than a spoof? lol;D

    But yeah, spam sucks :(
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    The paypal & Nochex one's are the one's to watch for. I know a guy in a UK forum who submitted his details in an email reply. His bank account got alot lighter fast.

    Spam, junk and malicious email. I've gone back to just trying to recieve plain text email only.
  • MarkTAWMarkTAW Brooklyn, NY
    edited July 2003
    I read about someone who only accepts plain text mail (filters them out) and gets basically no spam.

    I think disposable e-mail addresses are the way to go. I use Mailshell and Spamgourmet. Both of which are free, despite the literature on the Mailshell website, though I did end up buying a year to get the extra MB once I filled up my 10mb box... I don't know what I'll do in another 4 years.

    There's also a service, I forget what it's called, but it's a plugin for Outlook, and it connects to a database of other users... If enough people delete certain e-mail that everyone else has, yours automatically gets deleted too. From what I hear it's pretty reliable, and doesn't have too many false alarms, but I don't trust it... Oh yeah, and I don't use outlook.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    MarkTAW said
    There's also a service, I forget what it's called, but it's a plugin for Outlook, and it connects to a database of other users... If enough people delete certain e-mail that everyone else has, yours automatically gets deleted too. From what I hear it's pretty reliable, and doesn't have too many false alarms, but I don't trust it... Oh yeah, and I don't use outlook.

    Are you talking about SPAM INSPECTOR? I use that and it's pretty hot, hardly ever get SPAM turning up in my inbox anymore, although everyday I still get a couple sneaking through.
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