Interesting New Spam Business Model

Um … NEW?

This SPAM model has been going on for a good while…

When I first found out about it, I couldn’t help but think it would be good to catch as much such SPAM as possible. On detection of a new stock buy that stock ASAP, actually going along with the SPAMer but be sure to sell before the spammers.

I’m currently unsure how immoral that would be!

(BTW: Your column to the right displays over the top of the message entry box in Safari 3.0.3 on a Mac)

This SPAM model has been going on for a good while…

When I first found out about it, I couldn’t help but think it would be good to catch as much such SPAM as possible. On detection of a new stock buy that stock ASAP, actually going along with the SPAMer but be sure to sell before the spammers.

I’m currently unsure how immoral that would be!

(BTW: Your column to the right displays over the top of the message entry box in Safari 3.0.3 on a Mac)

It’s not new. It even had a movie made about it in 2000 – look for “Boiler Room” on IMDB.

your right hand nav displays over the oversized text entry field in Firefox too.

Not remotely new, but interesting in 2 ways:

1. There’s no need for a money trail leading from spam to spammer

2. A spammee needn’t trust the spammer to benefit him.

Here’s how this works: A gullible person (let’s call him Adrian) reasons as follows: * I know this is a scam * …but I know a lot of people will fall for it * so the stock price will rise * I’m more alert than most * so I will be buying before the rise, and can profit

This is, I think, quite elegant psychology: like all the best scams, the victim effectively cons himself.

BTW: the right-hand column also obscures the reply textbox in Firefox 2.0.

Not remotely new, but interesting in 2 ways:

1. There’s no need for a money trail leading from spam to spammer

2. A spammee needn’t trust the spammer to benefit him.

Here’s how this works: A gullible person (let’s call him Adrian) reasons as follows: * I know this is a scam * …but I know a lot of people will fall for it * so the stock price will rise * I’m more alert than most * so I will be buying before the rise, and can profit

This is, I think, quite elegant psychology: like all the best scams, the victim effectively cons himself.

BTW: the right-hand column also obscures the reply textbox in Firefox 2.0.

As others have said, “pump and dump” spam certainly isn’t new, but it’s annoying.

I’m getting a fair few messages over the last week or so from someone who doesn’t seem to have configured their spamming tool properly… it just has placeholders like:

06/03/2007 (13:53 GMT +03:00) 1.0 Content-Type: text/html Date: %CURRENT_DATE_TIME %MESSAGE_BODY

Muppets! :)