Black Friday Spammed Message Offers Bogus Discounts

 Analysis by: Jude Bordallo

Black Friday is one of the highly anticipated events in the United States, specifically among online shoppers, as it offers great discounts for popular items. Thus, it is not surprising that spammers use this event to spread their profiteering schemes.


Trend Micro received an email notification selling different popular software products. The email offers 50% discount on these items as part of the Black Friday event. The email includes an instruction to use the coupon code 'BLAK-2011' if users decide to click on the link provided, which leads to a malicious site. The said message also contains irrelevant or 'salad' words at the end of the email, possibly to avoid typical email filters.


Trend Micro advises users to be wary of messages that promote Black Friday or those that offer unbelievable discounts. Spammers are known to use significant events to lure users to various Web threats, such as phishing sites and malicious sites that host malware. Users should delete such message from their inboxes.


 SPAM BLOCKING DATE / TIME: November 28, 2011 GMT-8
 TMASE INFO
  • ENGINE:6.8
  • PATTERN:8546