Spam Works!

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), which consists of the top companies focused on preserving electronic messaging from abuse and exploits, has found that almost one third of people respond to spam!!! Some responded by mistake or naive curiosity, but 12% said they clicked because they were interested in the product or service advertised in the junk mail message!

An astounding 80% said they didn't think they were at risk for being infected by a bot virus which would turn their computers into spam sending machines run by an external source without their knowledge.  "Spamming has morphed from an isolated hacker playing with some code into a well-developed underground economy that feeds off reputable users' machines to avoid detection. Consumers shouldn't be afraid to use email, but they need to be computer smart and learn how to avoid these problems," said MAAWG Chair Michael O'Reirdan.

The take away message is NEVER OPEN SPAM, let alone click on it!