Buyers beware of 'bargain' software spam
Buyers beware of 'bargain' software spam
The recent increase in customer confidence in shopping on the Net has seen a major upswing in spammers offering computer software at heavily discounted prices, prompting a leading email filtering company to issue a warning to consumers to be wary of such offers.
SurfControl, which monitors and tracks global spam trends, estimates that emails offering popular software products such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop now account for 1 in 20 spam emails reviewed by the company. The ads started to appear in high volumes in the run-up to Christmas, increasing four-fold inside a month.
The spam messages claim to offer genuine OEM software for a fraction of the normal retail price, but SurfControl's Australian Marketing Manager Ursula Radford says the software offers are questionable and has urged buyers to be wary.
"Software publishers typically don't license their software for OEM resale unless it's part of a system bundle and the prices are just too good to be true.
"The offers do not include the manufacturer's packaging, manuals or customer support, making it difficult to check authenticity or if buyers are actually going to get what they paid for."
In Australia, visits to Internet shopping sites increased by almost 25 percent in 2003. SurfControl watched the software spam increase from one in every 100 spam in October to 5 in every 100 by December.
"Spammers quickly take advantage of every new development on the Net or in the news," says Radford. "This latest shift demonstrates how quickly spammers can capitalise on the latest e-commerce trends, such as consumers shopping online more often for more expensive items, like PCs and software."
While some of these offers may be for legitimate software, the majority look highly suspicious. Some indicators that such sites are pulling a scam include:- using anonymous domain hosting services- insufficient contact information- lack of information about security or encryption to assure that personal financial information is kept confidential
The clear message to anyone considering making such purchases online is to check that online marketers are reputable before providing them with any personal information or making a purchase.
Related Article: