Thursday, April 14, 2011

Spammers Intend to Make You an Easter Bunny

Easter is a Christian holiday centered on the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection several days later. Hence Easter is an important holiday for Christians. But what gets associated with Easter is beautifully decorated Easter eggs found on every decorated shop window this season, and of course the Easter Bunny! To celebrate Easter, people exchange Easter eggs and, with the evolution of time, today we have personalized e-cards and personalized gifts. Spammers have begun to exploit the season by sending personalized e-cards, gift cards, and replica-spam emails.
Here is a screenshot of a personalized Easter e-card:
Here are some of the headers used in Easter e-card spam:
Subject: Give your child the gift of amazement A Package from The Easter Bunny.
Subject: The Most Popular Gift for Kids this Easter 2011
Subject: Send A Personalized Easter Bunny Letter
Subject: How To Make This Your Childs Best Easter Ever.
Subject: This is the secret to making your kids happy this Easter.
Subject: Personalized Easter Bunny Letters
From: "The Easter Bunny" <The.Easter.Bunny@removed.com>
From: "Easter Bunny" <Easter.Bunny@removed.com >
Where personalized Easter gifts are concerned, spammers have targeted replica products offers at unimaginable discounts (as shown in the image below). To create a frenzy, they have also suggested that they have limited stock and therefore one must “HURRY”! But do not get carried away with such false promises. This could be bait used by the spammers to get a hold of the user’s personal information.
Screenshot of the Web site selling fake replica watches:
As Symantec wishes all our readers a very happy Easter, we also advise you to be cautious when handling unsolicited or unexpected emails, especially during this Easter season. Updating antispam signatures regularly protects your personal information from being compromised.
Thanks to Anand Muralidharan for contributed content.