Flood of Emails Promoting ‘Genuine Replicas’ of Known Brands

As if spam was not bad enough as it is, now spammers are promoting fake Rolex, Omega and Cartier watches. Recently, inboxes around the world, especially in the Middle East, have received an increasing torrent of emails marketing the fake goods.

From Dubai to Israel, emails with subject lines such as ‘Rolex Replicas’ or ‘Rolex Submariner Watch’ are hitting Internet users’ mail boxes. Watches that sell for upwards of $1,000 in the store are offered for only $100-$200.

The list of brands includes some of the best known and popular names in the industry, among them Rolex, Bulgari, Harry Winston, Chopard, Patek Phillipe, IWC, Breguet, Blancpain, Breitling, Omega and Tag Heuer.

An examination by IDEX Online found websites unashamedly offering the brand knock-offs, describing them as “Solidly built, high quality replicas,” with one site even offering a money back guarantee.

At present these emails seem harmless from a computing stand point since they do not seem to be spreading viruses or spyware. The spammers are apparently profiting from a referrer program, a common profit sharing model found on the Internet where a referrer gets paid for sending business to a site.

While this model is perfectly kosher in itself, it serves to confirm that your email address is valid, resulting, of course, in more spam…