Gathering data about spam involves capturing and analyzing a great deal of it. Part of this analysis by TRACE involves categorizing spam by type. This allows TRACE to monitor fluctuations in the types of spam, providing hints about the spammer's behavior and insights into emerging techniques designed to penetrate anti-spam technologies.
The TRACE Team broadly categorizes spam into the following types:
Lotteries ("you have won $10,000!") and get rich quick schemes such as the 419 Nigerian fraud spam. These are where a fictitious military or political leader in a random African nation has died and left a lot of money but for some reason the scam authors need your bank account to get the money out of the country. These "419" scams are so named after a section of the Nigerian criminal code. Scam spam typically uses lengthy explanations that attempt to confuse recipients and offer a financial opportunity that appears to be too good to be true – and always is.
This covers obvious pornographic content and offers for "free" memberships to adult web sites. Also offers for online dating services and specials on running personal ads.
Spam related to offers for mortgages, refinancing, credit, loans, "consolidate your loans" and real estate.
Emails that advertise stocks or pretend to offer insider knowledge on company stocks. These are the "pump and dump" schemes where spammers make up fantastic news about real companies in the hope that you buy the company's stock and inflate the price. The spammers then sell their own stock in the company as the price is artificially inflated. The stock price typically falls heavily shortly afterwards, leaving unsuspecting investors out-of-pocket.
Primarily spam of a pharmaceutical nature, advertising all manner of drugs, pills, potions and herbal remedies. This spam often promises better skin, weight loss, sexual enhancement, lengthening, invigoration, energy, etc. Examples include Viagra and weight-loss remedies.
This is another type of fraudulent spam, similar to the SCAM type. However, phishing spam is more targeted at your authentication credentials. Phishing attempts a sophisticated impersonation of a company that you legitimately do business with. Banks, eBay and PayPal are the most popular targets. This kind of spam has been perpetuated by organized criminals because of the potential or substantial financial gain. Essentially, phishing spam looks like legitimate email that asks you to confirm your login security details. You link to what you think is the bank's web site and use your login name and password. However, the link to the bank web site that the phishing email provides, in fact points to a false web site that looks authentic but is controlled by the phishers. As a result, the criminals gain access to your bank account and steal your money.
Advertising for tertiary qualifications like University diplomas and degrees. Also covers other training courses, like learning to become a real estate agent.
Advertising for a range of products commonly seen in spam. This covers things like watches, cheap software, stationary, copier toner and printer ink.
Other spam that is not easily classified into the other categories. Typically covers one time spam, like specials fake job offers, advice on how to win at poker and how to optimize your web site.
