Spammers are pushing a company so hard in a new pump−and−dump scam that it'selevated worldwide spam levels by 30 percent in the past 24 hours, according to researchers. The spam messages, which are being sent to Internet users globally, have an attached PDF file urging them to buy shares in a company called Prime Time Group Inc., according to anti−spam
software company Sophos. The company being pushed in the campaign sells wireless products and services aimed at the youth market. "The scale of this stock pump−and−dump spam campaign is like nothing we've seen before, and it looks like it is working for the cybercriminals behind it," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, in a written statement. "The share price in this company has rocketed as a result of bogus news being blasted to Internet users worldwide. In an attempt to get past anti−spam products,
criminals are now regularly using PDF files to carry their slick enticements for potential investors." Sophos researchers reported that they saw the first massive spike in spam in Germany on Wednesday, August 8, but it soon spread to the company's other monitoring stations around the world.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/secur...cleID=20130490 7

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