It is easy to identify spam in your email or a website when the wording is strange or is completely off topic. There are also popular phases that are used in spam. Whether this is on a website or an email, the phases are the same.
“I need money to get home now”
“I lost my wallet”
“you have been selected for the prize”
“I need your help to transfer money”
These are all common phases we see in our inboxes and comments on websites. But spammers are becoming more effective.
Spammers were at work in the World Cup. First there were emails sent out with a malicious document pretending to contain the World Cup scores. Then there were comments added to WordPress sites containing links to betting on the World Cup.
These types of comments are normally harmless but invites users to select the users profile where there is a link to a site. The comments themselves are made in clear English as appose to completely random phrases. Very few combinations would cause me to question the legitimacy of the comment. Using a variation of phrase in combination with prebuilt comments it is easy to create new comments on the post. This type of spam is difficult to block unless the list in known. For example, there was a comment creating list found here. There are 4,351,250,624 combinations in this list according to one comment in the link. Once the comment is made the users profile will have the link added.
The spammer uses PHP to create unique comments on unsuspecting sites, then addresses the URL link directly to the end of the comment or adds the link in the fake user’s profile. If the blog is set up to display links from the user’s profile to the comment, this spam link will also be displayed.
If you have a website that allows comments be sure to remove spammy comments. To block spam comments, I recommend reviewing what is offered in your web service. If you are visiting blogging sites be sure to examine any links provided and if you have a Firebox, enable WebBlocker to prevent access to malicious sites if users accidentally visit the link. –Trevor Collins
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