Pitstop users face a blizzard of spam – mostly aimed at the crotch.
The PC Pitstop users report they face more of a storm of spam than they did two years ago, with most of it aimed at sex, drugs and the theory that “bigger is better.”
The survey found that anyone who suffers from erectile dysfunction or is interested in increased penis size (including women) seems to have plenty of spam-delivered options. Pitstop users also reported a deluge of spam for software sales, Web greeting cards and excited emails from lawyers claiming the recipients have inherited money from strangers.
Some 1,656 PC Pitstop visitors took the Spam and Phishing Survey in August.
Survey takers overwhelmingly described themselves as having “intermediate” expertise (67.5%) and as “male” (73.6%). We’re assuming the latter response is much less subjective than the former.
The vast majority of survey respondents (72.8%) reported having between two and five email addresses which attracted up to 20 valid emails and up to 50 spam emails per day.
Analysis of the type of spam reported shows that the adage – sex sells – is alive and well in spamdom – as evidence by a serious fixation on the male sex organ.
Survey participants reported they received a lot of spam for “erectile dysfunction” (as in ads allegedly for the drugs Viagra and Cialis), “a larger penis” and “online pharmacies.” Trailing the male reproductive-related products were things like Web greeting cards (which are really evil bots in disguise), software sales, stock recommendations, unknown PDFs and replica watches.
Being female was no shield against the penis-related spam. Women who responded to the survey also ranked erectile dysfunction, a larger penis and online pharmacy as their top three. A stat that may or may not be related: Virtually all 432 women who answered the survey (91%) reported being over 40 years old. Of female respondents, a third said they were over 59.
Either spammers are firing blind or hoping women will take the first step. Large majorities of survey respondents of both genders said dealing with the spam onslaught takes between 5 and 15 minutes per day and that they believe spam today is “much worse” than it was two years ago.”
A strong 88% of survey takers said they use a spam filter, but half the participants said they “still get way too much spam” despite those filters.
Survey summary results:
