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February 22, 2006
EMAIL Hell - Another Spam Screwup
The fact that EMAIL is free makes it very convenient for legitimate users, but it also means there's no penalty for something like this:
%CUSTOM_TO_ALIAS,
%CUSTOM_ACCOUNT - %CUSTOM_LINK
Josh Head, Account Rep. %CUSTOM_REP_NUMBER
Here we can see the fake-account-statement hot stock spam in all its unrefined glory. For each outbound spam message, they have four values that are generated by some sort of randomizer: the fake customer name (CUSTOM_TO_ALIAS), the fake account number (CUSTOM_ACCOUNT), the URL to which the user is to be directed (CUSTOM_LINK), and the fake ID number for Josh Head (CUSTOM_REP_NUMBER).
The sad fact is, we are not only choking on spam, we are choking on stupid mistakes that were supposed to be spam but escaped before they were ready.
If there were a cost associated with generating spam, then the above message would have been an expensive mistake by the spammer; however, because there's no cost, there's no expense.
Imposing a cost upon spam is not easy. Even if every SMTP server assessed its customers 5 cents per EMAIL, most spam is being produced by malicious software installed on consumer PCs, and those consumers would be footing the bill.
In the meantime, welcome to EMAIL hell.
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
# At Wed 4:47 AM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (0) | More EMAIL Hell
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