New spam trend: Appealing to fears

"Spam is taking a nasty turn," ZDNET UK reports, as spammers switch away from porn as a lure to "capitalize on computer users' fears of crime, terrorism, and sexual predators." They send around emails trying to grab us with Subject lines like: 'Protect your child from sex offenders!', says ZDNET UK, citing a report from email security company Clearswift. Of course, faux pharmaceuticals are still a popular topic: "The 'Viagra market' remained high at 40%, while porn-related spam had dropped to its lowest-ever level of 3.6%." ClickzStats has big-picture figures on spam, viruses, and phishing.