Mmmmm, Spam. Spammers have done it with Harry Potter, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and even after the Virginia Tech shootings, whatever wave they can ride. This week after a $70 million opening at the box office, they’re trying to squirrel their way on the shoulders of Bart and Homer.
The emails are disguised as surveys and feature Homer Simpson in his underwear asking if recipients plan to watch The Simpsons Movie. The survey is accessible via a link in the email that, once clicked, causes the email address to be recognized as active.
As you would imagine, once that’s determined, it opens up the recipient to a flood of new spam.
Martin Thorburg, cofounder of SPAMfighter, says the practice of piggybacking on popular culture is standard among spammers.
“It is common that spammers will use large events, such as film premiers, wide scale media stories, or holidays to coerce e-mail users into a scam. We are hoping to avoid having our users fall victim to these scams by filtering away these e-mails,” he said.
SPAMfighter is a third-party downloadable spam filter and certified Microsoft partner. The company says there is also a prize promised in the Simpsons spam to entice recipients into taking the survey.
“Major spamming events such as The Simpsons Movie provide us with an opportunity to educate all computer users for the need to protect their data and privacy from spammers,” said Alix Aranza, Managing Director, SPAMfighter, North America.
And of course, the information comes with a pitch. Aranza informs us, “SPAMfighter offers all computer users the opportunity to download SPAMfighter Standard for a free 30-day trial.”
