Other phishing emails that appeared in spam traffic played off of the impatience of gamers anxiously awaiting Diablo III’s release. The emails stated that recipients would be given the opportunity to play a beta version of the highly anticipated title for a specific period of time. In order to do so, they would need to enter their battle.net account information, with the link in the mail leading to a phishing webpage.

Spammers making more use of politics &  sporting events  

Political spam also proved popular within April, primarily targeting US and French recipients. Kaspersky Lab believes mentions of Barack Obama in spam emails were as frequent as they were during his first year in the White House. President Obama’s name is used in political emails “exposing his political course” or in messages that alleges that the US president “is afraid of losing the upcoming election”. In addition, his name is also used in spam emails that advertise a variety of traditional spammer products such as viagra.

Also on the rise is spam that exploits popular sporting events including the forthcoming Summer Olympics in London and the upcoming UEFA EURO soccer competition. Many of the spam emails mentioning this regional football competition, offer places for soccer fans to stay in Poland and Ukraine.

“In the months to come, we expect a return of the all-too-familiar spam mailings with scandalous news items about current US president Barack Obama,” stated Maria Namestnikova, senior spam analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

“Furthermore, phishing attacks will likely focus more on social networking sites, and possibly online games — as summer vacation is upon us, students on break from school will be more active online. While these users tend not to have bank accounts, they do spend a lot of time on social networks and other online entertainment,” Namestnikova concluded.

The full version of Kaspersky Lab’s spam report for April 2012 can be viewed at: Securelist.