Simple Subject Line: Spammers use a one-word subject line. Usually there is nothing more than a link in the body of the email, which allow many emails to slide by the server undetected.

Spoofing: This is email in which the sender's name is fictitious. Some spammers spoof real companies, names you recognize, or people you know; many spammers try to spoof or imitate people you know right from your address box. According to MSNBC, Amazon.com is currently fighting lawsuits against three unidentified defendants who used spoofing with Amazon's trademark to fool the clients into doing business with them.

Social Engineering: A common tactic is using a personal, and even touching subject lines to get a person to open spammer email. “Hello,” “I miss you,” and “Your document is attached” are common subject lines and handiwork of social engineers.

Using “bots” to gather email addresses: Spammers commonly send out automated robots or 'bots' to get email addresses from chat boards, messages lists, etc.

Using third-party servers: This allows spammers to hide their identity and Internet Protocol addresses.

Web beacons: Emails sent by spammers to that contain an image and sometimes an invisible image to the recipient. If a user interacts with the image, it alerts the spammer that the address is active.

Phishing: Phishing is usually combined with spoofing. A spoofer will imitate companies and use forms inside of emails to gather personal information about the user.

 

Case Story: Right around the time that the CAN-SPAM Act was passed, Citibank had to warn customers of false emails sent to their customers. The phishing technique used imitated Citibank's logo and used a professional form to gain personal information from Citibanks's customers. In this case, the spammers even threatened to shut-down the user's bank account if they didn't comply with the email and fill out the information. The good news about this case is that it beautifully demonstrates the myth of the criminal genius. The email sent in the scams contained many grammatical errors, and the return addresses didn't read @citibank.com, but rather @Yahoo! or @Juno (Citibank Press Release, 2004).

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Defining Spam	Advertising's Role	The Problem	Spam Tactics	Solutions	Conclusions