Stimulus and Oscars spam flood US inboxes

The Oscars featured heavily in spam attacks during February

The economy is remaining a top lure for spammers, according to a recent report from security firm Symantec.

The company said in its monthly State of Spam report that popular topics for junk email last month included the economic stimulus, holiday trips and get-rich-quick schemes involving blogs and lawsuits.

Among the more popular spam subjects was the Obama stimulus package. Spam runs regarding the payments were spotted as early as the first week of February, ranging from phony IRS messages to advertisements of 'stimulus grant' packages.

The spam was part of a larger trend towards economic offers, according to Symantec. Other popular scams included offers to work from home as a paid blogger (requiring bank account details, of course) and spam for discounted travel fares.

The early trend appears to confirm predictions made late last year regarding the effects of the economic crisis on cyber crime.

"With economic concerns mounting across the globe, and intense media coverage of the downturn, it is clear that spammers believe that economic spam is a useful vehicle, a dark cloud that for them holds a silver lining," the company said.

Also popular in February was Oscar spam. Leading the way was actor Brad Pitt, whose name was also considered to be the most dangerous celebrity search on the internet last year.

Overall, the Symantec report found that web sites and internet services were the most popular spam category, claiming 27 per cent of the total in February. Second was health-related spam, followed by financial services and leisure products, which each claimed 16 per cent.

The US was once again the world's top spam contributor, accounting for one quarter of all junk email. Brazil was a distant second with nine per cent, followed by India with five per cent.