Spam rose by 5.1 per cent between April and May this year, according to research from Message Labs Intelligence and it's often reputable websites that the offenders are operating through.
Facebook and other social networks is a favourite for spammers. The most common method involves an email with a valid subject line and hyperlink in the body copy, leading to profiles that have been set up to sell a range of pills designed to make sex more pleasurable.
The use of hyperlinks from popular websites such as Facebook makes it difficult for anti-spam software to detect that the email is selling dodgy goods.
Due to most spammers operating by US times, the peak time for spam in the UK is late afternoon. The UK receives a greater level of spam than the US, Japan and most European countries and, while the global volume of spam increased in May, the level received in the UK dropped slightly, according to Message Labs Intelligence.
According to the research, one in 318 emails contains malware, programmes designed to attack personal computers while one in 405 emails is a phishing expedition, where people try to ascertain personal details such as user names and passwords.
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