Spammers are no strangers to new technologies, and as true marketers, would do everything to achieve the objectives of their marketing campaign.
Security researchers from WebSense, have detected a spam campaign using QR codes. Scanning the QR code with a QR reader will load the pharmaceutical spam URL in the browser.
More details:
The spam email messages look like traditional pharmaceutical spam emails (image 1) and contain a link to the Web site 2tag.nl. This is a legitimate Web service that allows users to create QR codes for URLs. Once the 2tag.nl URL from the mail message is loaded in the browser, a QR code is displayed, along with the full URL that the QR code resolves to on the right (image 2). When the QR code is read by a QR reader, it automatically loads the spam URL(or asks before loading, depending on which flavor of QR reader you have installed) (images 3 and 4).
This isn’t the first time that cybercriminals use QR codes to spread scams and malicious content. In September, 2011, security researchers from Kaspersky Lab discovered a malware campaign relying on QR codes for spreading of mobile malware.
