With the soaring popularity of social networking sites, it is no surprise that spammers try to take advantage of them. In the past, spammers would register their own accounts and then send unsolicited messages through the social networking site. By default, the site generated automated email to let the user know that there is a new message.
Spammers are always searching for ways to bypass anti-spam filters. While the “text with tables” technique is not new, it is worth noting because it demonstrates spammers’ creativity, as well as their utilization of existing techniques.
A typical phishing email message tries to represent (falsely) a single institution. For example, a spammer sends a phishing message, forging the email to appear as if it’s from a financial institution. The recipient is then asked to enter personal information for some fictional reason (for example, “verify your identity”).
