Shocking fact: 12 percent of email users tried to buy products from spam

A new study released by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, or MAAWG has revealed a shocking fact: 12 percent of Internet users have actually confessed to responding to a product or service advertised in spam--they were interested enough to purchase, at that.

The MAAWG interviewed 800 ordinary computer users in the United States who have an email address that is not managed by corporate IT. The results were compiled into a 60-page study, titled "A Look at Consumers' Awareness of Email Security and Practices," which makes for an interesting read.

Apparently, while almost half (48 percent) responded that they have never clicked on spam, the remainder professed to having clicked on spam. Of course, 17 percent said they made a mistake by doing that, while 13 percent professed to "not knowing why they did it."  Six percent clicked because they "wanted to see what would happen" and a staggering 12 percent actually clicked because they were interested.

MAAWG wrote in the report, "Although a small percentage of the computing population, these numbers still earn a significant enough return on investment to support a booming spam-driven underground economy."

With practically all spam being automatically sent out by hijacked machines, it is easy to see that spammers stand to gain, even if only a fraction of users ever respond. So if you've ever wondered why spam persists, that's the reason. 

Now, have you ever responded to spam?

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Ars Technica
- check out this article at The Register
- check out the report from MAAWG (pdf)

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