Financial spam on the increase: Clearswift

Spam touting get-rich-quick schemes has been on the increase, according to a monthly spam index.

Software company Clearswift found that spam aimed at extracting money from inexperienced investors increased more than 400 percent in its January spam index, compared with December last year.

It also found that financial spam accounted for more than 17 percent of all spam, compared to about 15 percent in December.

Peter Croft, managing director at Clearswift Asia Pacific, said that public awareness of this type of scam had increased, but inexperienced investors were still at risk of being duped.

Croft cautioned people to be very dubious about spam that arrived in their inbox. “It is highly unlikely that the senders of these emails have any privileged information or that there is any money to be made from following tips,” he warned.

“The sharp rise in spam offering stock tips and a variety of money-making schemes suggests that gullible -- or greedy -- investors are responding to the offers,” he said.

The January spam index also found healthcare represented more than 44 percent of all spam, and suspicious money-making schemes made up 41 percent of all spam.