Fergie's Tech Blog

Spammers Hitch a Free Ride on AutoTrader.com?

Brian McWilliams writes on the Spam Kings blog:

I recently received a spam on my America Online account advertising "Super H0T Se11ing Quality Meds." To my surprise, the hyperlink in the message appeared to lead to Autotrader.com.

AutoTrader.com is an Atlanta, Georgia-based company that calls itself "the internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace." Its investors include the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Was the used car site branching out into Viagra and Xanax? Nah. A closer look revealed that some clever spammer had just figured out a way to bypass AOL's URL blocklist.

posted by Fergie @ 3/20/2006 07:51:00 AM