Following closely on the heels of Valentine’s Day spam, a new wave of Russian bride spam has emerged. During the final analysis on Valentine’s Day-related spam, it became apparent that as the holiday approached there was a 700 percent increase in spam messages with a Valentine’s Day theme. The biggest increases by percentage were seen in the phrases “February 14,” with a 200 percent increase; “Valentine’s Day,” with a 500 percent increase; and last, but certainly not least, the term “Valentine” experienced a 9,000 percent increase as Valentine’s Day came and went for another year.
Russian bride spam has been around for a number of years now. With previous Russian bride spam examples, the recipient was encouraged to communicate over email with a prospective bride. However, the problem with this method was that the recipient who availed of this “offer” could not be confident that they were speaking with a prospective bride, instead of a middle-aged man who was trying to scam the recipient. In recent Russian spam messages, live video streaming has been implemented as a way to overcome this “issue.” According to the spam email: “Adding Live Video Streaming to your Live Chat session is just like going on a date - you will be able to make eye contact, see body language and pick up other cues that are important in helping you decide whether a particular woman could truly be your dream Russian woman!”
Clicking on a link in the message encourages the recipient to start a “free trial,” but beware: these spam messages are often used to scam money from unsuspecting individuals and the trial may ultimately turn out to be very costly.