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June 22, 2009

For the past couple of weeks I've seen the following types of messages come through:

Subject: Thank you! Your Order will be shipped within 24 hrs

Thank You!

Your Order Has been Processed and Will Leave our Warehouse in 24 Hrs!

Order Refrence ID: {%MIXED%}{%MIXED%}-{%MIXED%}{%MIXED%}{%MIXED%}{%MIXED%}{%MIXED%}{%MIXED%}

Please Visit http://[removed].com

---
Sincerely *Order/Processing Dept*

All those "{%MIXED%}" strings are placeholders for the botnet software to insert randomized numbers or letters to generate a so-called "Order Refrence [sic] ID". The stupid medz spammer hasn't figured out how to get the mail merge feature of his rented botnet to work.

Unfortunately that probably doesn't stop a lot of recipients from clicking the link in their haste to protest an order they didn't place (and isn't leaving any warehouse in any case). Sadly, and despite the snafu, enough newbie recipients will probably click the link anyway, and tick the hit counter of the spammer's web site. ROTFC[rying].