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New spam may harm registration systems


By Jay Smallat 9:29 am 8/22/2007

You may have noticed a new wave of spam messages that mimic registration confirmation e-mail from a legitimate-sounding Web site to dupe people into clicking through. Here's the content of one such message I received this week:

Welcome,

Welcome To Mobile Fun.

Member Number: 7645817185
Temorary Login: user9238
Password ID: yp226

This Login Info will expire in 24 hours. Please Change it.

Click on the secure link or paste it to your browser: [link deleted]

Welcome,
Membership Support Department
Mobile Fun

Besides the harm these messages can do to people who click the link -- it may lead to malware that might add their own computers to the infected many that propagate this kind of spam, or it may be a phishing attempt -- I bet this wreaks havoc with sites that need e-mail verification of new accounts.

That would be any site requiring registration for access to content, subscriptions to e-newsletters, setting personal preferences, ordering products, sharing photos or videos. You know. Just about every site that offers more than a fleeting user experience.

Argh. Spam stays one step ahead of legitimate Internet ventures every time.

Yeah, there's also this new email going around about a Nigerian nobleman who needs to leave his country with millions of dollars and wants to use your bank account to store the money. In return he'll leave a large amount of money when he removes it later. THIS IS A SCAM !!

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SID says...

Absolutely no copies of Dreamweaver were harmed in the making of this site.

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