Spam Links Recession and Impotence

Statistics show those man-targeted "sexual enhancement" junk emails are wildly popular these days - and could be tied to the recession

Our inbox has suffered a surge of spam in the last few days, and this Business Week piece confirms it: As in years past, anti-spam experts are seeing a strong uptick in junk e-mail tied into Valentine's Day, when spammers traditionally hawk gifts like knockoff designer merch or discounted getaways.

But this year, it's not the cheap cruises and fake Prada that are grabbing peoples' attention. Apparently, the web is seeing a huge swell (ha) in spam that preys on what BW calls "male insecurities" - and the numbers show that these emails are actually getting a big response.

The Web watchdogs at Symantec claim that "the top three types of spam tend very much to be related to what we call 'male capabilities,'" a.k.a. - if you're a dude -- your deep-rooted fear of being a sexual dud. Business Week (where they know from recession) takes this one crucial step further: "Are men, hurt by the worst global downturn since the Great Depression, more vulnerable to this sort of junk e-mail?" Symantec's rep won't be caught making that link on the record, but he does note that "the statistics tell the spammers these are very popular."

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