This is the third and probably final blog entry for me on Valentine’s Day spam as the minutes tick off before the holiday. Since my last post on February 3, we have continued to observe an increase in spam messages associated with this lovers’ holiday. I narrowed my search to the month of February, so the data in this blog article only covers spam from February 1 until today. As a throwback to my first Valentine’s Day blog post, I thought I would pull up a recent list of Valentine’s Day spam subject lines.The top 20 Valentine’s Day-related subject lines for February:St. Valentine's bomusCasino St. Valentine's DaySt. Valentine's CasinoCasino - St. Valentine's daySt. Valentine's casinoSt. Valentine's games in CasinoSt. Valentine's BonusSend Valentines Day Flowers from $19.99Attract that special someone this Valentine's DayTime to prepare for Valentine's Day.. be ready!Be a Valentine's Day stud!Make this Valentine's Day the most memorable everDon't be alone for Valentine's Day this year!hail! Valentine's DayRE: Valentines Day Flowers Starting at $19.99 ProFlowershey! Valentine's DayHallo Valentine's DayRespects buddy! Valentine's DayHey Valentine's Dayrespect! Valentine's DayAhhhh, yes, we will always have Casino St. Valentine’s Day. It seems there has been a shift in the types of spam being advertised during the lovers’ holiday, as we now see that casino spammers are getting in on the game—so to speak. And finally, for something truly nice for your partner, there is actually some flower spam! I think we all know where Romeo and Juliet would have ended up if only there had been a decent florist that could provide cheap flowers, with a well written note of course. Wait, I almost forgot! Who could forget our good old friends, the enhancement spammers, who continue to stay in the mix.
When I take a more specific look at particular words in subject lines I can definitely see an increase in the volume of Valentine’s Day-related spam. In my last blog entry that charted particular words, I pointed out a small increase. But, now that we are in February, I can safely (and sadly) say that increase has definitely continued. Since the beginning of February we have seen spam messages with Valentine’s Day themes spike with a 700% increase. In many cases the starting point was near zero, so larger percentages are expected. The biggest increases by percentage were seen in the phrases “February 14” with a 200% increase, Valentine’s Day with a 500% increase, and last but certainly not least, the term “Valentine” has experienced a 9,000% increase.
Overall spam rates have remained constant—79% according to the latest Symantec State of Spam Report. However, spammers appear to be shifting some of their attacks to take advantage of the holiday and the hearts of lovers everywhere.