"Pump-and-dump" spammers have found a new package for their scam: Excel files.
Commtouch researchers reported the appearance of pump-and-dump spam in Excel files for the first time on July 21. The spam promotes stocks in file attachments with names such as "invoice20202.xls," "stock information-3572.xls" and "requested report.xls."
"Excel is a logical progression from older formats, and the spammers are always looking for something new to bypass anti-spam engines," said Rebecca Steinberg Herson, senior director of marketing for Commtouch, in Sunnyvale, Calif.
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