Nearly 17 out of 20 email messages sent are spam, according to a survey.

Network and email monitoring company Ipswitch has released it's sixth 'Spamometer' report, in which it details findings about the frequency and content of unsolicited email messages or 'spam'.

The company found that 84.4 per cent of all email sent in the last quarter of 2006 was spam. According to Ipswitch many of us are falling for the messages too, especially those that recommend buying shares in certain companies.

“We have seen a lot of 'hot stock tips' spam... such stocks have been measured to increase five per cent in days following massive spam output which unfortunately proves their effectiveness,” said Chris Greaves of Ipswitch.

The study also found that nearly half of spam messages sent in the last quarter of 2006 were phishing attacks, where spammers attempt to con recipients into visiting faked web pages and leaving personal financial details.

Clive Longbottom, head of research at analyst company Quocirca, highlighted the dangers of phishing emails.

“Phishing has become a big earner for organised crime, and the spammers are getting cleverer, moving from blended text – where sentences from classic texts are mixed with the phishing message – to image messages, where no actual text is sent, or only innocuous text is sent, with the main message being carried as an image.

"These types of spam have a far larger impact on those who fall for them, often to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds," said Longbottom.

http://www.ipswitch.com/
http://www.quocirca.com/

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