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Spammers Wrecked Talent Firm's Credibility
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-09-06
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
When spammers adopted the look and feel of an Australian talent agency's online advertisement for their mass mailing, the company behind the ad received the brunt of the criticism afterwards.
 | | Spammers Wrecked Talent Firm's Credibility |  |
The copying of the ad, and the spoofing of the spam message headers, made it appear that National Online Talent Management of Queensland, Australia, was behind the mass mailing. But the company is as much a victim, even more so, than those who received those emails.
ZDNet Australia reported how the company's general manager discovered on Monday morning that his firm had been used by the spammers.
"We are getting a lot of abusive e-mails. [The scammers] have e-mailed companies we have worked with in the past and that has destroyed our credibility with them," Dary Ryan said in the article.
The spam message appears to be a typical phishing scam, looking for personal information and photos. Worse, Australian law enforcement believes the spammers could be operating a child pornography ring.
Meanwhile, outraged spam recipients have been filling the NOTM inbox with demands to be unsubscribed from these messages. Others have called the company to complain about the mailings. There isn't anything NOTM can do about the spam, though.
It is also unlikely the small company will be able to reach the spammers even with the help of authorities or lawyers. The scam originated overseas according to security firm Sophos, and unless the country harboring the spammers takes an active effort in finding them, NOTM will be stuck with the hit to its credibility and no recourse for that.
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Tag: Spam
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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