US Election-Related News Planted in Malicious Airline Emails to Avoid Spam Filters

Malicious emails purporting to come from airline companies are not new. They inform the recipient that a ticket has been purchased using their credit card and point to an attached file for additional details.

However, the more recent airline scams come with a twist. In an effort to evade spam filters, the cybercrooks have started adding legitimate-looking text to the end of the email.

For instance, Commtouch experts have found this written at the end of an email allegedly originating from Delta:

“US runs a 4th straight $1 trillion-plus budget gap
Obama team promises more aggressive president in second debate
Feisty Biden gives Democrats a reason to smile
Video: Issa: Budget cuts not issue in Libya attack
Obama team promises more aggressive president in second debate.”

Of course, these sentences would look highly suspicious if they appeared at the end of an airline notification, so the crooks set the font to white to make them invisible.

Although the recipient doesn’t see anything, spam filters do, and considering that the topic is related to the upcoming US presidential elections, the anti-spam mechanisms might view them as legitimate and let the email pass right through to the user’s inbox.