Aug. 8 — There wouldn’t be spam if there wasn’t money in spam. So to understand what primes the spam economy, MSNBC.com answered a single unsolicited commercial e-mail. Following this one spam trail led us from Alabama to Argentina, from a tiny Birmingham-based firm and someone named “Erp” past a notorious spammer named Super-Zonda — and right through big-name companies like Ameriquest, Quicken, and LoanWeb. And that’s just the beginning. The truth about spam is this: While the dirty work is done by secretive, faceless computer jockeys who are constantly evading authorities, lots of companies with names you know profit, at least tangentially, from their efforts.
“DON’T MISS THE lowest mortgage rates in history!” screamed the e-mail, which urged recipients to visit a Web site to ask for more information on a new home loan. It claimed to be from “Gay Helms,” but the e-mail address looked fishy — m58ycxx@yahoo.ca. Its e-mail headers revealed the note started its life, not in Canada, as the e-mail address suggests, but in Argentina, sent from telecom.net.ar. That’s a sure sign of spam. And, for good measure, it included an infographic on mortgage rates stolen from MSNBC.com.
Later, with the help of spam-fighting firm Message Labs Inc., we would learn that e-mail headers in the note indicate it was sent from an IP address range known to be used by Juan Garavaglia, also known as “Super-Zonda.” Garavaglia is believed to send out some 30 to 40 million spam each day.
But we started with just one.
We clicked on the link and were transported to a Web page at LWSMortgage.com, where we filled out the form with traceable, fake information and waited to see what happened to our data.
Four days later, four companies sent us an e-mail indicating they knew we were looking for a new mortgage: Ameriquest, Quicken Loans, LoanWeb, and Ivy Mortgage, a small mortgage broker based in North Huntingdon, Penn.
But none of those companies sent the spam. So how did they get our information?
One of two ways: They either bought it through third party companies called “lead generators,” or paid third-party contractors called “affiliates.”
http://www.msnbc.com/news/940490.asp?0dm=B214T
“DON’T MISS THE lowest mortgage rates in history!” screamed the e-mail, which urged recipients to visit a Web site to ask for more information on a new home loan. It claimed to be from “Gay Helms,” but the e-mail address looked fishy — m58ycxx@yahoo.ca. Its e-mail headers revealed the note started its life, not in Canada, as the e-mail address suggests, but in Argentina, sent from telecom.net.ar. That’s a sure sign of spam. And, for good measure, it included an infographic on mortgage rates stolen from MSNBC.com.
Later, with the help of spam-fighting firm Message Labs Inc., we would learn that e-mail headers in the note indicate it was sent from an IP address range known to be used by Juan Garavaglia, also known as “Super-Zonda.” Garavaglia is believed to send out some 30 to 40 million spam each day.
But we started with just one.
We clicked on the link and were transported to a Web page at LWSMortgage.com, where we filled out the form with traceable, fake information and waited to see what happened to our data.
Four days later, four companies sent us an e-mail indicating they knew we were looking for a new mortgage: Ameriquest, Quicken Loans, LoanWeb, and Ivy Mortgage, a small mortgage broker based in North Huntingdon, Penn.
But none of those companies sent the spam. So how did they get our information?
One of two ways: They either bought it through third party companies called “lead generators,” or paid third-party contractors called “affiliates.”
http://www.msnbc.com/news/940490.asp?0dm=B214T