They don't even need to actually vibecode the emails. Some scam reached my gmail inbox for the french railway company advantage card at a "too low to believe" price. They just downloaded an original email, replaced content urls to their own host and all links to their scam page. Yes, all links even the socials lol. There's one link that was removed instead of replaced (but the text was still there): the unsubscribe notice. I didn't check the page but the email was well done since it just was an edited official one and if the page was equally made I'm sure at least some people got scammed there.
On top of that, all these spam and phishing emails are sent through Google servers. About two thirds of spam I receive originates from Google, 12x more than AWS and 20x more than Microsoft. This is completely insane.
I remember when Google promised Gmail storage would increase (quote) "forever". A mind blowing at the time 1GB at launch in 2004 to 2GB only a year later. Then 4 GB in 2007. This was prime Google doing cool stuff constantly time. Up to 10 by 2012 and then they rolled up Drive and Photos to 15GB in 2013.
My usage hit ~90% 5 years ago and hasn't shifted since. Apparently Google lack the means to see this line doesn't intersect with 100%, and no action is required.
Thankfully they do have the means to change the wording of the emails I can't unsubscribe from. I don't know what the official reason is but the result is I have to modify my filters.
Apple are no better. Choose between a permanent nag notification on Settings, my most trusted app, or disabling backup of all the negligibly-sized data.
Both spammers and google's mail is in my spam box in gmail... Both messages are very similar... And google's contain the classic urgency baits. Not being able to receive email and so on...
Leaders in the email security space have been seeing this for a while now [0], this is not new. The problem is the means to protect consumer mailboxes outside of Gmail, isn't cost effective since most people do not actually pay for their consumer mailbox and the impacts of compromised accounts do not actually impact the providers. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the consumer space as the complexity of the problem continues to grow while the technology used to stop it stays in the early-2010s.
I agree, and I think the answer is that what used to be free, and is now infected with all sorts of enshittification, will be paid-for to be useful.
I pay for email via Fastmail, don't really have a spam problem. I think this addresses your point above, that to have an effective spam filter takes money, and free email doesn't generate money.
I pay for search via Kagi, don't see all those crappy Google Ads and actually get useful search.
I can see the other services (socials, messaging) moving to a paid model to solve the same issues.
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The amount of borderline harassment I get about my Google Drive being almost full is shocking.
They have really amped up the ferocity of the language they're using to try and extract money from you for Drive. No wonder spammers are copying that.
It hasn't moved since.
Thankfully they do have the means to change the wording of the emails I can't unsubscribe from. I don't know what the official reason is but the result is I have to modify my filters.
Apple are no better. Choose between a permanent nag notification on Settings, my most trusted app, or disabling backup of all the negligibly-sized data.
> No wonder spammers are copying that.
Are you sure it’s not the other way around?
[0] https://siliconangle.com/2023/12/19/new-report-warns-rise-ai...
You want to send me an email? Please give me $1 first, and if I don't like your content I can, without notice, change that number to $50 per email.
I pay for email via Fastmail, don't really have a spam problem. I think this addresses your point above, that to have an effective spam filter takes money, and free email doesn't generate money.
I pay for search via Kagi, don't see all those crappy Google Ads and actually get useful search.
I can see the other services (socials, messaging) moving to a paid model to solve the same issues.
LLMs are interesting for phishing as they allow personalisation. Spam is no longer, well exactly the Monty Python meaning.