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How Image Spam Works

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the it-wasn't-me-i-was-framed dept.

Esther Schindler writes "CSO Magazine has an article about "The Scourge of Image Spam," with an explanation of its effect (a year ago, fewer than five out of 100 e-mails were image spam; today, up to 40 percent are in that category, and image spam is the reason spam traffic overall doubled in 2006). You might already know about that, ho-hum. But what's even cooler is a interactive graphic page which demonstrates the various methods used by image spammers and how it works."

3 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. Here's how it works from another perspective by Richard+McBeef · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It works because some rat fuckers out there buy the shit that's being advertised.

    1. Re:Here's how it works from another perspective by plover · · Score: 5, Insightful
      You have to look at the business of spam to understand why it hasn't gone away yet.

      There are actually three parties involved in spamming: the merchant, the spammer, and the victims/recipients. The merchant is the trailer trash dude who fished a case of expired viagra out of some pharmacy's dumpster. He wants to sell it online and make a fortune. So he hires a spammer who agrees to send out 10,000 emails for $60.00.

      Whether or not the merchant makes a single sale has no effect on the spammer. The spammer made his money just by sending the crap emails out. And the supply of idiots with get-rich-quick schemes is virtually infinite, guaranteeing the spammers a never-ending stream of fools willing to hand them $60.00 apiece.

      This means we'll probably be fighting spam until the world runs out of greedy idiots.

      --
      John
  2. Where is Chris Hansen on this? by oni · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What sort of a brain-dead moron would actually fall for spam?

    I wish that somebody would do a TV show like "To Catch a Predator" except that they would go after the people who buy spam. Embaras them a little.

    "Hi, I'm Chris Hansen from NBC. Why don't you have a seat there. Why are you here sir?"
    "uh well I, I'm here to see a friend."
    "You're here to have your penis enlarged aren't you?"
    "no, no, I'm just here to hang out."
    "Sir this is an email that we sent to you advertising penis enlargement. You clicked on this email."
    "omg, is this on TV??"