This is a first for me:

Dear Sir or Madam--

We regret to report that spammers have figured out a way to hijack one of our banner ad-targeting codes, used on Jupitermedia's Enterprise Storage Forum website. While we've now blocked the effectiveness of the hijack, its inclusion in the spam message that you received from outside parties is beyond our control.


Brian McLymont
Manager, Newsletter Productions
Jupitermedia Corporation
Tel.(212) 547-7869
Fax (212) 953-1733

I got this too.

Does that suggest the spammer has a wide reach - or is it just co-incidence that two of use have got it amongst all Sp@mX users who post here?

I received this reply as well this morning.

Jerremy

I too received such a response today and have written back asking him to explain why a spammer would want to hijack his advertising yet still retain links to his web site and still allow people to order his products. I went further by asking that if he is unable to explain the spammers motivation for such a strange action then he should confirm that my email address is not held on any of his databases and so will not be used to promote any of his products.

I await his answer with great deal of interest

I have now received the following response:-

"Dear stankay,

I believe that you may have misunderstood. What the spammer is doing, is embedding a hyperlinked url within his/her email, that modifies an otherwise legitimate ad code url/string, which is normally used to display a graphical ad on a Jupitermedia website. For example, here is sample modified hyperlink from the spam email:

http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/Real...ads/ew/parents/
www.stairslove.com/management/features/article/3281197833/gmgjj/OasDefault/S
un_Storage_SolutionCenter_1a/accessunit4.html/345471268949258155544116897?iw
z.WiNcRITcONDi.COm

Please note the presence of stairslove.com and wincriticondi.com. These are not legitimate elements of our original ad code. They are hiding this within our legitimate ad code url, effectively sending people to their ill-intentioned site, while deflecting attention from the true source.
Jupitermedia ends up getting all of the spam complaints, because our website's url is listed first in the hyperlink. The spam email itself did not originate from Jupitermedia or Enterprise Storage Forum, and the fact that you received it has nothing to do with us whatsoever.


Brian McLymont
Manager, Newsletter Productions
Jupitermedia Corporation
Tel.(212) 547-7869
Fax (212) 953-1733
bmclymont@jupitermedia.com"

I feel that Jupitermedia are quite genuinly concerned about this matter and are unsure what they do about it. I have tried to help by reporting the matter using Sp@mX

That's interesting, and thanks for the explanation.
I got one of those replies too.