18 October 2007, 15:14

Stock spam silly season?

Elvis fans need to beware of a new departure in stock spam. The MP3 attachment to that email may not be of the King at all. According to security vendor Sophos, they might find themselves listening to a synthesised voice promoting an obscure Canadian penny stock instead. Other "featured artists" include the Beatles and Britney.

The dreary voice on a 29 second specimen of the track (MP3) from Sophos is reminiscent of a Dalek's and the sales pitch is banal and unprofessional. However, although salesmanship may be lacking, this is apparently a serious attempt at stock spamming: Message Labs informed heise Security that they have intercepted some 10 thousand of these messages per hour since they started appearing around 11 pm BST yesterday (17 October). Nevertheless, we suspect this scam is unlikely to fool many recipients.

(mba)

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