Spam and crime

Abstract

Unsolicited bulk, mass emails, or ‘spam’, pose a global challenge because they form a major vector for the dissemination of malware. Spam takes many forms and has many varieties. Spam can merely carry annoying but benign advertising; however, it can also be the initial contact for cybercriminals, such as the operators of a fraudulent scheme who use emails to solicit prospective victims for money or to commit identity theft by deceiving recipients into sharing personal and financial account information. Legislation criminalising or limiting spam has been introduced in more than 30 countries (OECD 2004) but there is no mutual agreement