Spammers Deluge Inboxes With Mother's Day Offers

I never thought I would be thanking spammers for anything -- but they're the ones who reminded me about Mother's Day.If it weren't for them bombarding me with email about last-minute flowers, chocolates, baskets of fruit, and, ahem -- look away now, I can't believe even the spammers would think this was a suitable Mother's Day present -- vibrators, I might not have realized what Sunday represented.

And, actually, that's the problem. Although Mother's Day in the U.S. is on May 10, different countries in the world celebrate their mothers on different days.

For instance, as a Brit I celebrate Mother's Day (or as it's known in Old Blighty, Mothering Sunday) on the fourth Sunday in Lent. That was March 22. And you can stop holding your breath if you're an Argentinian mum; you won't be having your special day until the third Sunday of October.

With more than 20 possible dates for Mother's Day in different parts of the world, cybercriminals have plenty of opportunities to send spam or malicious email posing as greeting cards.

So while mothers may appreciate their children being reminded by spam to do something special, buying goods advertised in this way encourages spammers to send more junk email. On the flip side, if no one purchased the products sold via spam, then I reckon many of the spammers would disappear.

It's time to boycott the companies who use spam to sell their goods. If you receive an unsolicited commercial email, don't try, don't buy, don't reply.

Graham Cluley is senior technology consultant at Sophos, and has been working in the computer security field since the early 1990s. When he's not updating his other blog on the Sophos Website, then you can find him on Twitter at @gcluley. Special to Dark Reading.