The new champions amongst products and services offered in spam messages are high quality branded goods, such as Rolex watches, designer handbags and the like, advertised at sensational discount prices, but which most probably carry only the name of the luxury goods and none of their other desirable qualities. Spam messages containing these offers occupied second place in the spam stakes last year, constituting 19.4 % of all spam. This piece of the spam pie has grown slightly to 19.6 %, boosting it into first place in the world of unwanted e-mail.
Even more dramatic has been the fall in the percentage of e-mails offering Viagra, aphrodisiacs and so forth. Only a year ago almost a third of all spam (32.2 %) was dedicated to marketing products promising an enhanced love life. In the meanwhile, this share of all spam messages has dropped significantly to 17.5 %. Similarly, offers containing other erotic content have fallen by more than half from 6.2 % to 2.6 %.
The biggest losers of the past year have been e-mails marketing online gambling or other games of chance. This sector’s share fell by more than two-thirds from 5.7 % to 1.7 %. Also losing out are those offering pharmaceutical products. Their share fell from 11.9 % to 8.6 %. At the same time a similar category of products has managed to establish itself for the first time. Health and fitness services and products, such as remedies for weight problems or aging have shot onto the scene with a “market share” of 8.8 %. Amongst last year’s winners are some comparatively respectable promises. Offers of jobs or credit almost doubled from 2.2 % to 4.3 % and likewise incredibly cheap offers of hardware and software rose from 4.3 % to 7.2 %.
“It appears that the economic crisis has finally reached spammers, too, “Oliver Pannenbäcker, Head of Enterprise Messaging Solutions at Retarus comments on the latest study. “Instead of dubious satisfaction of the senses, spam marketers are now concentrating on promising a concrete ‘added value’. In addition, the percentage of spam e-mail with an incomprehensible subject line, for example in Russian or Chinese, has decreased by 3 per cent to 15.1 %, showing that spammers are now also feeling the economic squeeze.”
About Retarus
Retarus is a leading provider of professional messaging solutions and has been developing and offering services for electronic corporate communications since 1992. The company's portfolio encompasses large and medium-sized corporations, with service extending to more than 3,500 worldwide customers in various sectors. Customers such as Allianz, Bayer, Honda, Sony and Adidas rely on Retarus messaging services to exchange mission critical business documents. Retarus employs more than 250 dedicated professionals and holds offices in Munich, New York, Dubai, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Vienna and Zurich. Each of these employees makes Retarus' core service values customer focus, innovation, quality and transparency, their mission.
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