AT&T Tech Support 360
November 19, 2004 9:03 AM PST
Spam gets religion
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E-mail recipients are increasingly being offered religious salvation through the power of spam, according to security company MessageLabs.
The antispam company has intercepted a large number of spiritual e-mails in the last month. The company says the e-mails are legal because they don't plug products, just religious ideals.
"It's on the rise for a number of reasons," said Matt Sergeant, antispam technologist for MessageLabs. "It is exempt from spam laws, and it's legal according to most national laws, including Can-Spam. It's not commercial, and that's interesting in a way, because there is a cost, yet no financial return. But they may believe there is a spiritual return."
One of the latest e-mails has the subject line "Only believe." The body of the e-mail is:
"Eternity is a really long time. If you or someone close to you has not accepted God please do so tody (sic).
"The following prayer can save you or someone that you love.
"Say, 'Oh God, save my soul. I'm so sorry that I have sinned against you, but I have come home. I will serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. Deliver me from all my sinful habits. Set me free! I do believe Jesus died on Calvary for me, and I believe in His blood, that there is power in His blood to wash away all my sins, all my sins!' Say, 'Come into my heart, Jesus; come on in, Jesus. Come on in!' If you meant it, He has come. If you meant it, Jesus is yours. Start reading your Bible, pray daily and believe that somebody's listening;
"His name is Jesus."
However, similar mail has preyed on victims' gullibility, using variations of the Nigerian 419 scam. One sender sought a "better Christian individual" to receive $18.6 million for religious purposes, so long as the recipient of the mail could put up some money up-front.
MessageLabs said it believed users would see more religious-oriented bulk e-mail in the run-up to Christmas.
"It's been around for a long time but has tended to be below the radar," Sergeant said. "This time, there's been a large spam run, so we can expect to see more of the same. It's becoming so cheap to do; even if you have little money, you can still send millions of messages."
Dan Ilett of ZDNet UK reported from London.
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And since spam goes out global, it's bound to break some law somewhere.
The emails are ironic when you consider who they are coming from.
Thou shalt not create or send spam.
another vehicle for getting the good word out that Jesus saves. I
can't help but wonder why others would be uptight about getting
something like this in their email inbox. I can think (and list) a
whole lot worse things that I get in my email box that more
offensive, vulgar and rude than reading something about the
God I serve. Yes, I agree that it would be better not to get
something that's not solicited but hey, is it only offensive to
non-believers? Who knows how many people may find salvation
in this simple message? I'd rather receive that than some of the
stuff that comes my way on a daily baises from credit cards, to
weight loss and sexual crap. So, I'm not whining, just sticking in
my two cents worth.