Top 5 Spam Words that Fooled the World
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The anti-virus specialist McAfee has just released its July 2009 research report, which identifies the top ten key spam trends across 15 countries. Interestingly, it appears that different countries and cultures respond to subject messages in a different way.
1. “Hello”
Users in 15 countries were analysed, and in nine of these, people were fooled into opening messages with “hello” in the title, including the US, Taiwan and Brazil. Simple, effective. It’s a spam classic.
2. “Call us for a masters degree”
Germany and Belgium fell prey to the highest amount of diploma scams of the 15 countries. France and Chile also featured such “diploma opportunities” in their spam lists, though not as many. In barbarous Britain, for some reason, the promise of further education seems to hold no allure at all.
3. “RE: DISCOUNT 80% OFF on Pfizer!”
Not sure what Pfizer is? Well it’s the pharmaceutical company that produces, among other things, Viagra. This stand-up scam featured as number one on both China and Taiwan’s lists, though users in France and the UK were also tempted.
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4. “Your house switched off”
No, you read right, “Your house switched off” did indeed feature on one country’s spam list. Just one. Can you guess which one? That’s right. It’s the UK. What are we thinking of? What’s next? “Your diesel-powered dog”?
5. “Super Obama’s pants”
The funniest celebrity-related spam comes from France’s top ten, with Canada’s “Eminem’s buttkissing interview” coming in second. Australia’s top ten reflected a slightly seedier approach to celebrities, with “Naked Rihanna in bath” coming in at number five. Nice.
Abstract from Timeonline.
