What, no Michael Jackson Spam?
Not to be too sassy, but it looks to me like there was almost more press coverage of potential "death of Michael Jackson" themed spam, than actual "King of Pop" spam. The Wall Street Journal's "Digits" blog had an entry that notes two Michael Jackson-themed email attacks -- an email with a spoofed YouTube link as well as messages that exploit Jackson's death and are likely trolls for valid email addresses or directory harvest attacks.
Spammers commonly exploit current events in their attacks, but having looked through Proofpoint's own spam traps yesterday, I didn't actually see anything spammy exploiting the singer's untimely demise. Lots of legitimate bulk email (from news services and the like) actually reporting on the event, though.
Perhaps spammers didn't think that they could cut through the overwhelming amount of real email on this topic?
At any rate, my spam-fighting friends over in the Proofpoint Attack Response Center did point out a concert refund scam email that came in this morning, however. The message payload reads:
Reimbursement due to death of Pop King{Michael Jackson}
Due to millions of people that bought tickets for the show,i advise you contact me immediately to avoid been on a long queue.
Mrs.Mitchelle Holmes,
Head of operation
Michael Jackson concert{London}
Need I even note that -- even if you do happen to be a ticketholder for one of those events -- you shouldn't respond to messages like these?
On a similar tip: Our next live web seminar, "No Summer Vacation from Spam" will be covering some of the latest tricks that spammers and scammers are using in their campaigns. Join us live on July 15th by registering here:
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