Damn Spam Virus e-mail, Don't open attachment

[just john]

I received a simple e-mail with an attachment from a good friend; and I opened and it then went to everyone of my contacts. Since then I've been inundated with spam discount offers. All of which I've deleted. What do these malicious spammers expect to gain[:(].

 

 Apologies if any of you received it from me; DON'T OPEN THE ATTACHMENT

John

[Quillan]

You might like to try MailWasher Free http://www.mailwasher.net/ I have used the pro version for years now and it works very well. The limit, I believe, with the free version is that it only works with one email account. I use the pro version because I have many email accounts what with the B&B, personal and all.

[Alex H]

[quote user="just john "]

What do these malicious spammers expect to gain[:(].

[/quote]

Cash:

Your post got me a bit interested and the first thing I found on the web was this:   http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/pubs/networking/2008-ccs-spamalytics.pdf

An attempt by Berkley University to quantify how much cash is generated by these 'campaigns'

The last page is the interesting one

"Thus, the total daily revenue attributable to Storm’s pharmacy

campaign is likely closer to $7000 (or $9500 during periods

of campaign activity)."

"Storm-generated pharmaceutical spam

would produce roughly 3.5 million dollars of revenue in a year.

This number could be even higher if spam-advertised pharmacies

experience repeat business. A bit less than “millions of dollars every

day”, but certainly a healthy enterprise."

Quite amazing isn't it?