In what appears to be the newest way to deliver spam, stock tip spammers have begun distributing MP3's that trick users in downloading what they think are tracks from artists like Elvis, Britney Spears, and the beatles. What they get instead is "audio spam" hawking stock tips. According to MessageLabs, a web security firm, the spammers began distributing their fake MP3's Wednesday evening and have sent over 10,000 an hour using bots. The group responsible for this attack appears to be the same group responsible for the huge PDF spam attack of earlier this year. The audio spam stock pitches are for a Canadian company Exit Only which runs the Web site Text4Cars.com. You can listen to a sample at PCWorld.com.

Fortunately, the fake MP3's won't do any harm to the PC's of anyone duped into downloading them. The spammers are exploiting people's trust of PDF and MP3 files, and the same old rule applies. Don't download attachments of any kind from anyone you don't know!