Spam campaign roundup: The Memorial Day Edition (May 23, 2014)

This coming Monday is Memorial Day. It is the day of honoring American soldiers who died serving the country in wars and it also marks the unofficial start of summer in the United States. This holiday weekend is also one of the biggest sale weekends of the year. While consumers are planning to shop, cyber criminals are taking advantage of such individuals by sending unsolicited advertisements for products and services that often yield to fraud, phishing and even malware.

Over the last week, the Dell SonicWALL threats research team has been tracking down all Memorial Day related spam emails.

As the Memorial Day weekend approaches, we are receiving an increasing amount of this holiday related spam emails. These emails have a common theme of trying to lure consumers to click on the links and provide their personal information in exchange for access to deep discounts and offers. Most of these emails are poorly crafted with evident errors in grammar and spelling. The following are some of the most common email subjects:

• Ann up until Memorial Day, get a new iPhone 5s for $4.50
• This will breaking some records (Memorial Day)
• Shop for Memorial Day Weekend with this Costco Voucher, for: Johnbiggles, Gift Card #1089007xxx
• Levi_r reward bucks to use this Memorial Day
• Annual Memorial Day savings are here!
• Memorial Day Vehicle Clearance Sale
• Use this JCPenney coupon during checkout for Memorial Day SAVINGS

Some emails are purporting to come from popular department stores or restaurant chains promising gift cards or coupons, that when clicked would take you to a URL different from the real merchant's website. The consumer will then be asked to enter their personal information and to participate in a number of "offers" often costing money in fees or subscriptions without the guarantee of ever receiving the products and services or the free gift card at the end of the process.

We urge our users to always be vigilant and cautious with any unsolicited email and to avoid providing any personal information, particularly if you are not certain of the source.

Dell SonicWall Gateway Antivirus monitors and provides constant protection against such malicious spam and phishing threats.