The following click-bait e-Mail subject lines were used by the developers of Storm Worm (https://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/small_dam.shtml) which tricked tens, if not hundreds of thousands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Worm#cite_note-8) of people into downloading the peer-operated malware. Here is a list of subject lines that were used. The purpose of this post is to help BHW members brainstorm their own ideas. These exact subject lines will likely never work again for use in any major e-Mail provider, but this list will help those who are new to black hat marketing learn from what did work. They can be applied to help develop any and all new click-bait conent if you are able to reduce these titles to the subjects and psychology that was used to create them. Here they are: 230 dead as storm batters Europe F.B.I. vs. Facebook Strongest earthquake hits Beijing Death toll in China exceeds 1000000 Recent china earthquake kills million 230 dead as storm batters Europe. A killer at 11, he's free at 21 and... British Muslims Genocide Naked teens attack home director. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has kicked German Chancellor Angela Merkel Russian missle shot down Chinese satellite Russian missle shot down USA aircraft Russian missle shot down USA satellite Chinese missile shot down USA aircraft Chinese missile shot down USA satellite Sadam Hussein alive! Sadam Hussein safe and sound! Radical Muslim drinking enemies' blood. U.S. Southwest braces for another winter blast. More then 1000 people are dead. Venezuelan leader: "Let's the War beginning". Hugo Chavez dead. President of Russia Putin dead. Third World War just have started!. The Supreme Court has been attacked by terrorists. Sen. Mark Dayton dead!. The commander of a U.S. nuclear submarine lunch the rocket by mistake.. First Nuclear Act of Terrorism!. So in Love Happy World Religion Day! Most Beautiful Girl Someone at Last I Believe The Dance of Love The Miracle of Love All For You Vacation Love I am Complete Wrapped Up Moonlit Waterfall A Little (sex) Card A Special Kiss Hugging My Pillow Safe and Sound You're Soo kissable A Romantic Place Breakfast in Bed Coupon For You I Love You So Want to Meet? We Are Different We Have Walked You Asked Me Why A killer at 11, he's free at 21 and... British Muslims Genocide Naked teens attack home director. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has kicked German Chancellor Angela Merkel List is partly from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Worm, partly from http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp.
Well, this is great and truly, it's wonderful. Anyone doing the international traffic stuff can use this titles. But for me, i might try a little tweak and localized it. Thanks for the shares.
Great share and some FOOD for our thoughts... The psychology behind it is based around "Fascinations" by Mel Martin. Generally you want to include one or more of these 7 powerful motivations in your emails subjects: Fear, Anger, Greed, Guilt, Exclusivity, Fattery, Salvation
No problem guys! Remember that what matters in IM is the ability to adapt and re-purpose already working methods. wisdomkid, for instance, was talking about localizing them, while dakkidb pointed to the underlying psychology of it.
Great post, but one question, lol, some of these are just blantant lies like the "Putin dead" one. what happens when they open the email? "Just kidding he's alive?"
Not quite. These e-Mails helped spread the Storm bot network in particular, which is a collection of zombie computers that are either stolen from, monetized, or used in mass DDoS attacks. The Storm developer likely directly linked or .zip embedded a .exe file and mass e-Mailed it to thousands of recipients. What happens after they run the file doesn't matter to the Storm developer, it just matters that they run it at all.