Need Some Extra Cash for the Holidays?

Please don't try to make it with get rich quick schemes on the Internet. Work from home scams are a perennial form of email and SMS spam, making up about 4.5% of all the spam reports we see from the US (and 18% of all the spam reports that are really spam - more on that in a later post). However, recently we have seen seasonal pitches that are aimed at people who need extra cash for the holidays (and who doesn't?) Though the emails themselves are not that well designed, the landing pages are. Clicking on the link in the second one rotates you through a series of landing pages with varied pitches. Perhaps the spammer is trying different approaches to see which hooks the most gullible people?

Interesting how the same scheme scam can lead to earnings of $20 a day, $168.64 a day, $273 a day, $50 an hour or $10,471.60 a month. Trust me, the only person who is making money on this is the person selling the worthless get-rich-quick advice. In other holiday spam news, the Viagra(TM) pushing female doctor on the "Canadian Pharmacy" web sites is currently wearing a Santa hat.

As legitimate seasonal marketing emails ramp up, we are also seeing many users reporting these marketing emails as spam, when they should be able to unsubscribe from them. If you are a member of a web site devoted to erotica, and they suggest you buy sex toys as presents, or if you are on a Christian mailing list and they send you an offer of free shipping on Bibles, take a look to see if there’s an unsubscribe link that you can click on, instead of hitting the spam button. And if you’re responsible for sending Christmas related marketing messages, make sure that your recipients can easily remember why they’re getting these emails, or how they signed up, and that your unsubscribe link is easier to find than the spam or junk button in their email client.