The company, which undertakes a spam index each month, reported this week that spam offering quick and easy ways to make money nearly doubled this month, far outnumbering spam that offers quick and easy ways to sign up for a porn site or make your penis bigger.
Aside from money scams, which typically ask recipients to act as middlemen for fraudulent money transfers, Clearswift reported credit card fraud and penny-share promotions also were rapidly on the rise.
At the same time, pornographic spam plummeted by more than half during October, while spam promoting gambling all but disappeared, according to the report.
According to Clearswift’s research, the most frequently used credit card spam offers goods bought with stolen credit card information. Recipients are asked to accept delivery of goods, after which the fraudster forwards their payment information to a separate controller, leaving the buyer in the lurch.
The penny-share scam, which Clearswift said many online consumers have yet to experience, promotes the sale of low volume stock that only cost a few pennies each. Because the price is so low, tricking even a small number of people into buying shares can quickly cause it to double, upon which the spammer sells his own shares for a tidy profit, sending the stock price plummeting southward.
“The general level of awareness of scams [offering pornography] has meant that spammers are turning to different tricks to earn a living,” said Alyn Hockey, director of research at Clearswift. “They are motivated by money and if it is not bringing home the bacon, they will try something else.”
Hockey said the traditional “419 scam” is also losing its luster, at least in First World countries, but that it’s use has increased in developing nations less familiar with the tactic. Any U.S. Internet user has likely received some variation of the 419, which typically includes “overinvoiced” or “double invoiced” oil or other supply and service contracts that the sender wants to get out of Nigeria.