Cyber criminals are using the pre-Christmas online shopping rush to target users with seasonal spam message, new research from Symantec has revealed.
The security firm’s State of Spam report for November found that during that month and October, spammers have been sending emails with references to online shopping and luxury goods.
The top 10 seasonal spam subject lines were: Sales receipt from Amazon; Sales Order from walmart.com; Incredible sale for luxury goods; Re: what she wants for Christmas; Give her luxury this holiday season; Bling yourself up this Christmas; Get the perfect gift for Christmas; Impress your friends this holiday season; Xmas on-line cookies; and Time limited Christmas promotion.
Research house Verdict recently revealed that UK shoppers were likely to spend £6.8bn online in the run up to Christmas, up nearly £1bn from 2008, so it is no surprise to see spammers turn their attention to it. Symantec also revealed that fake airline ticket spam has increased recently as more people look to book flights to see family or friends over the holiday season.
Amanda Grady, principal anti-spam analyst at Symantec, said: “British shoppers are expected to spend upwards of £6.8bn online this Christmas, and spammers are desperate to get a slice of the cake. To do this they are crafting subject lines that people are more likely to click on.”
“The top two subject lines indicate that spammers are tricking people into believing that they have a transaction email from two well-known retailers. Although we usually see these types of subject lines associated with phishing or fraud messages, this tactic was actually re-directing users to a bogus online pharmacy site,” Grady said.
