A new survey of nearly 800 e-mail users conducted by Mirapoint found that prescription drug offers, financing ads and pornography represent the top three types of spam received by corporate users and consumers alike.

Corporate users cited prescription drug ads as the most common type of spam, but consumers said financing offers were the most likely to clog their inbox. Those two spam types switched places for the number two spot with consumers and corporate users, and both groups agreed that porn was the third most common type of spam.

Strange SpamFellows

Surveyed users were asked to include some the strangest spam that they’ve received. Some of the most common responses were these:

• Poorly written e-mail from a company purporting to sell anti-spam solutions and sympathizing with the recipient over the volume of spam received.
• Blank message containing no URL, no text, and no content.
• E-mail containing the message, “Here is your new virus you requested.”
• An e-mail containing the message, “Sing guaranga. Just said that. Cool.”

“Clearly the spam problem is not going away and users are being bombarded with inane and possibly offensive messages that they do not want to receive, especially in a corporate environment,” said Mirapoint chief marketing officer Bethany Mayer. The study was conducted in March and April of 2005 and was comprised of 34 percent corporate business users and 66 percent consumers.