America Online blocked an average of 1.5 billion spam e-mails a day this year for a total of 556 billion in 2005, the company announced Wednesday.
The figure represents a slight increase over 2004, the Internet service provider unit of Time Warner said.
AOL also said that about 80% of the e-mail sent to its users is blocked as spam, and that unsolicited commercial e-mails reaching its users’ inboxes has decreased 75% since its peak in 2003.
This year saw spammers using more so-called “special-order” subject lines, or subject lines purporting to be from a friend or business with whom the recipient has a relationship-“your mortgage is ready,” for example, AOL said.
Donald Trump was also a top-10 subject-line topic, the company said.
“Spammers have been on a year-long mission to mislead and deceive in 2005,” said Charles Stiles, AOL’s postmaster, in a statement. “While the volume of spam reaching AOL e-mail inboxes has remained at low levels compared to it’s height in late 2003, the spam that’s out there is more insidious, crafty, devious, and dangerous than ever.”
The following are examples of AOL’s 2005 Top 10 global spam subject lines. AOL cautioned that the list is unscientific and in no particular order:
*Donald Trump Wants You – Please Respond; *Double Standards New Product – Penis Patch; *Body Wrap: Lose 6-20 inches in one hour; *Get an Apple iPod Nano, PS3 or Xbox 360 for Free; *It’s Lisa, I must have sent you to the wrong site; *Breaking Stock News** Small Cap Issue Poised to Triple; *Thank you for your business. Shipment notification *[IMPORTANT] Your Mortgage Application is Ready; *Thank you: Your $199 Rolex Special Included; *Online Prescriptions Made Easy.
