Detailed by security provider Cloudmark in a blog posted
yesterday, this type of advertising spam e-mails users
a notice to upgrade to the new Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Those who click on the link are directed to a Web site
touting the benefits of the software.
The Web site domain name contains the word "adobe,"
says Cloudmark, as an attempt to give it some kind of legitimacy.
But of course, it's just another malicious site designed
to capture personal information.
Once on the phony site, the user is prompted to provide
contact details and credit card information, which naturally
then fall into the hands of the cybercrooks behind this scam.
This particular spam campaign is hardly new, according to
Cloudmark. Security vendor MX Lab picked up on it last
July and then again in September, all with the same message
and intent.
In September, MX Lab reached out to MailChimp,
the e-mail service provider that the spammers used to send
out their messages. Once alerted, MailChimp suspended the
account. But the recent outbreak of the same scam shows that
cybercrooks can easily move from one provider to another.
Adobe is aware of this particular Adobe Reader upgrade
scam and has in the past cautioned people to watch out for it.
Of course, Adobe Reader is a free product, so the request
for credit card information should be a tip-off that something's
not right here. But the phony Web site does describe the
product as offering the ability to create and edit PDF files,
something only available in the paid version of Acrobat.
So some people who want the full product could be fooled.
And as with most scams, the bad guys come out ahead even
if only a tiny percentage of unsuspecting users swallow the bait.
