Profile Of A Spammer - A Look Inside Their World
 |
In this section, we look into the Profile of a Spammer to learn What makes spammers tick? Why do they get involved in the "business" of sending spam? A closer look at the world of the spammer was needed.
Interestingly enough, research revealed that, the profile of a spammer does not differ that much from the profile of a virus creator. They share common traits and personality characteristics that, once read, won't really surprise you at all.
Spammer Profile
Predominantly male
16 - 35 years old
Single
Living in or working from home
Technically competent (these guys are not idiots)
Tendency to be involved in other illegal activities e.g. credit card fraud
Consider their activities to be harmless
Can/will work with other spammers on large campaigns
Methods Used
A Smart Spammer is typically :-
Familiar with spoofing.
Uses open relays
Never uses the same IP address twice
Thief Spammer
Sets up a webpage/portal that looks exactly like that of a well known company.
Sends out spam mail to this companies customers advising them to update their payment information or billing details.
The customer responds to this by going to the website and entering their login or credit card details.
The spammer then uses the acquired information to perform other illegal activities as the new identity.
A terminology exists for these activities. They are known as "Email Phishing" or "Spoofing" and "Identity Theft".
Favorite Spam Software
News Blast
MailBomb
Prospect Mailer
NB:- Spammers will often have software custom written for them if necessary.
Amount of spam
A single spammer can, potentially, send 84,000,000 (84 million pieces of spam per day). This is an extreme case but is possible. Ronnie Scelson boasts that he can send this much junk mail every single day via 3 superfast e-mail servers.
Income Potential
A "good" spammer can easily earn $100,000 per year. Spammers work on a piece rate so the more spam they send the higher their income potential. On average 1,000,000 pieces of junk mail sent out will result in 100 "sales" or leads. This in turn generally means big profits for the spammer.
Ronnie Scelson is currently one of the most notorious spammers in the world. He claims to have covert agreements (sometimes referred to as pink agreements) with ISPs to allow him to send the 84,000,000 pieces of junk e-mail per day that he claims to. Typical of spammers/virus authors, he sees nothing wrong with his "business".