An IT security company has claimed that spammers have unleashed one of the biggest online stock manipulation campaigns in history in the last 24 hours, increasing global spam levels by 30%.
Experts at SophosLabs have detected about 500 million e-mails containing advice to invest in Prime Time Stores - an obscure US-based retail company - in a record-breaking example of the 'pump-and-dump' spamming technique.
'Pump-and-dump' is when spammers buy shares, orchestrate a spam campaign promoting the company, then wait for a share price to rise before selling their stock for a profit.
'This is staggering. It's one of the biggest spam campaigns we've ever seen,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
The e-mail cites a company press release announcing the opening of stores by Prime Time Stores in Puerto Rico and goes on to say: 'Imagine if you had the chance to buy a Wal-Mart franchise in Mexico right when it first opened its doors there and all you needed was a small stake to get in.'
It adds: 'Hurry, we see this stock starting to make the turn NOW. Big watch in effect for August 8, 2007!'.
