Spam emails telling the recipients that they have a 'stupid face' have been spotted by security researchers.
This new tactic, discovered by MessageLabs, aims to provoke recipients into losing their cool and doing things they normally wouldn't, such as replying to the spam or clicking on a link within it.
Other recent techniques used by spammers involve the names of prominent personalities such as celebrities and politicians, generally reporting them to be involved with some kind of scandal.
The emails use names such as that of US Presidential candidate Barack Obama and contain links to sites where you can download videos supposedly related to the story. However, the videos are actually files that contain malware.
"In April, MessageLabs stopped a similar attack spoofing YouTube videos, not mailed out as links but distributed via user-generated content sites like blogs and links posted on comments pages," said Mark Sunner of MessageLabs.
"This is testament to the fact that spammers are using content that historically works, but vary the distribution tactics so as to go relatively unrecognised in their motives," Sunner continued.
A separate report from rival security firm McAfee issued today found that surfers in the UK were the most likely to be recipients of 'Nigerian scam' emails.
www.messagelabs.com
Topic: Spam email gets offensive (Read 616 times)