TrendLabs^SM security researchers recently noted an increase in the volume of spammed messages posing as newsletters from Amazon. These email messages even sported a supposed Amazon email address, {BLOCKED}ers@amazon.com, to make them look more credible.

The messages even featured various product endorsements to fool recipients into thinking they were legitimate. Clicking the images and embedded links, however, led to the same possibly malicious site. Though the site is currently inaccessible, it is in no way associated to the real Amazon site.

Some users have been wary of the spammed messages from the alleged Amazon email subscription as discussed in the site’s forum. The spam turns out to be an effective social engineering ploy as the spammed message can easily pass off as a legitimate email which users are likely to click.

We can expect to see more threats like this online, especially since it is summer in some parts of the world. Internet users typically troop online in the summer to search for and book vacations, shop, or look for that perfect summer job. Cybercriminals will of course take advantage of this wave of online browsers, the Amazon spam being just one of the many possible ways users are lured into becoming victims of cybercrime.

Trend Micro product users are protected by the Smart Protection Network™ as it detects the above spam and blocks access to the malicious URL.