Don’t Let Spammers Select A Gift for Your Dad

Since Father’s Day is just a week away, we at Symantec have been tracking the prevalence of Father’s Day spam during the past two weeks. Father's Day is a day honoring fathers, celebrated on the third Sunday of June in the United States and many other countries. This year it will be celebrated on June 21.
   
Father’s Day typically involves gift-giving, special dinners, and family-oriented activities. This common knowledge gives spammers an opportunity to promote fake products and come up with lucrative-sounding offers.

The majority of the spam related to Father’s Day that we have observed consisted of Internet offers for special discounts on various products such as PDAs, cigars, and satellite dish-DVRs. Other offers included personalized gift cards, wine makers, premium coffee collections, and e-cards.

The spam messages linked to Father’s Day typically involve words like “Father’s Day,” “Fathers Day,” “For Dad,” and “Personalized Gift.”

Some of the various subject lines related to Father’s Day are as follows:

Subject: Dad wants a DISH-DVR for fathers day
Subject: Father's Day Special- Save 40% on Our Cigar Sampler
Subject: Fathers Day + Graduation PERSONALIZED Gifts
Subject: Unique Gifts for Dad
Subject: Premium Coffee Collection Delivered Directly for Dad
Subject: Help Dad Craft His Own Premium Wine!
Subject: 20% Off Gifts for Dad
Subject: Personalized gifts for Fathers day, get him something he'll like.
Subject: <Removed>, Save 70% and get 4 FREE GIFTS
Subject: Personalized Fathers Day Gifts
Subject: Use This PDA for Father\'s Day.

With so many fake products associated with promotional spam emails, a user might end up thinking they are buying the perfect gift for their dad, only to find out there may be no gift at all for their dad’s special day. Since there is one more week to go, spammers will emphatically attempt to push such product promotions into users’ inboxes. Users are advised to ignore such unsolicited and unexpected emails and purchase gifts for their loved ones from a legitimate source.