14 DAY TRIAL // Pixmania customers tartgeted in recent spam campaigns, fear that the company's client email list might have been compromised.
The Register reports that numerous Pixmania customers began receiving unsolicited emails lately, some of them on addresses exclusively registered with the online retailer.
Concerned users fear that the company either sold its customer email database or lost it as a result of a compromise.
The second possibility is more likely, as one of the reported spam runs included suspicious-looking work-at-home proposals.
Cyber criminals are commonly using such offers to recruit money mules. If the suspicious emails were part of such a scheme, it means the database is in the hands of people associated with cyber crime and was likely obtained through illegal means.
Earlier this year, hackers broke into a server belonging to Epsilon, one of the largest email marketing vendors in the world, and walked away with the email addresses of millions of consumers.
The incident affected 50 of the top U.S. companies, including U.S. Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Capital One, Brookstone, McKinsey Quarterly, New York & Co, the Home Shopping Network, TiVo, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, Marriott Rewards, QFC, Ralphs, Ritz Carlton, Smith Brands and Walgreens.
People affected by the breach later reported being targeted in email phishing and malware distribution campaigns, as well as affiliate marketing scams.
Last December, a different email marketing vendor called Silverpop was breached in a similar manner and lost the customer email lists of 100 companies, including Honda, McDonald's, Walgreens and deviantART.
The Pixmania incident comes after last week Friendster users received fake emails purporting to come from the company and containing their passwords in plain text.