Dynamic Business

In May 2009, spam levels climbed to 90 percent of all email, and the number of spammers using Twitter to phish for personal information increased substantially according to the Symantec June State of Spam Report.

The report found that spammers are habitually exploiting the reputation of brands for their own benefit, with social networking site Twitter the latest target.

In the last month spam attacks have leveraged Twitter for two spam campaigns: “Make Money Fast” (MMF) and dating spam.

In the MMF attack a “Risk-Free Twitter Profit Software” kit is offered. Recipients of this message would be directed to a web-form which asks for personal information including name, email address and postal address. This is followed by another form asking for a credit card number, expiration date and security code.

Users have been lured in through subject lines such as ‘Twitter Guru Reveals All On Video’, ‘Use Twitter to make money’ and ‘Teenagers are playing online and making grundles of money.’

The second Twitter-related spam uses a supposed Twitter dating site Datetwit to encourage people to sign-up and enter their personal information.

According to the report, spammers are hiding behind the reputation of the Twitter brand that continues to grow in popularity in order to lure people into the scam.

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