Washington Times: Spammers make profits without making a sale

This story outs a range of new techniques being used by spammers to generate profits without selling anything. For instance, spammers may use email to drive traffic to websites in order to generate revenue from banner advertising. They are also attempting more imaginative ploys, such as:

"Pump and dump" stock schemes, in which a spammer sends e-mails touting a certain stock and encourages people to buy it. The stock's value goes up, and spammers sell it at a profit.