The Top 9 Spam-Sending Countries: See Where All That Junk Is Coming From

Receiving spam is never fun. Not only does it clog email inboxes, but it's also an easy way for cybercriminals to plant malware on your computer or trick you into handing over some of your private data.

A recent report released by Internet security firm Sophos reveals the top spam-relaying nations. Combined, computers in these countries were responsible for sending out nearly 60 percent of spamming around the world from January through March of 2012.

Sophos' Graham Cluley points out that a computer owner might not know when his or her device is relaying spam. "The vast majority of spam comes from home computers that have been compromised by hackers, and commandeered into a botnet," Cluley wrote in a blog post explaining the study.

While basic email marketing spam has decreased since last year, according to the report, Cluley noted that, "the number of messages that spread malware or that represent more targeted attempts to phish usernames, passwords and personal information is increasing." In addition, it seems both basic spammers and cybercriminals are using social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterst to spread their messages or malware. For example, AGBeat reported in March, many Pinterest users fell for a scam offering free Starbucks gift cards; however, clicking the pin led users to a scammy survey site, rather than the official Starbucks site.

Earlier in April, antivirus and Internet security company Trend Micro released a report outlining some of this year's biggest mobile and Internet threats so far, including email and social networking hoaxes and scams. The report also included a list of the top ten spam-sending countries. Seven of those were the same as on Sophos' list. Both reports fingered the same country as the world's top relayer of spam.

Check out the slideshow (below) to see the top 9 countries where computers relay the most spam, according to Sophos. Were you surprised by which nations made the list? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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• #9: Pakistan

  Pakistan relays <strong>3.3 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #8: Poland

  Poland relays <strong>3.9 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #7: Brazil

  Brazil relays <strong>4.3 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #6: Italy

  Italy relays <strong>4.9 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #4, Tied: Russia

  Russia is tied with Indonesia for fourth place, relaying <strong>5 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #4, Tied: Indonesia

  Indonesia is tied with Russia for fourth place, relaying <strong>5 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #3: South Korea

  South Korea relays <strong>5.7 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #2: United States

  The United States relays <strong>8.3 percent</strong> of all spam.

• #1: India

  India relays a whopping <strong>9.3 percent</strong> of all spam to computers across the world.

• ALSO ON THE HUFFINGTON POST

  Spam. Depending on your tastes it's a a) delicious or b) vile canned meat product from Hormel. If you're a computer user there is no a) / b) proposition; spam sucks. Michael "Doctor File Finder" explains what exactly spam is and how to eradicate or, at least, lessen its impact on your inbox. Spam is the plague of the Internet and nearly 90% of all the email that's sent is spam. We'll show you some ways to reduce the amount of spam you have to deal with.

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Comments

[Gopal Das]

10:15 AM on 04/29/2012

Unfortunately, there are still tons of scams out there…There is a new iPhone app recently released, called Scam Detector, which exposes like 500 scams. It is worth checking it out, if you have an iPhone. The app is also online - they have a free web version, if interested. Google it, it's kinda cool, actually.

[tom sproule]

01:47 PM on 04/26/2012

OK, so these are the countries RELAYING the most spam, How about a list of the countries originating the most spam?

[Votenoneoftheabove]

12:45 PM on 04/25/2012

Please to you my friend. I am a attorney for Nigeria Banque Internacional. I am entrusted with $7,000,000 USD which is on hold and marked for you. please to make contact with me so we can discuss the transfer of the funds for which you are entitled.

[kilakhan]

03:28 PM on 04/25/2012

Nigeria? Its not on the list is it?

[StinkyMoBub]

05:49 PM on 04/25/2012

In order for me to be allowed to do this from my country, I will need a small fee of $300 with which to pay the inbound country fee...please to thank you.

[jonny dipstick]

10:50 AM on 04/25/2012

We need laws against this. Whatever happened to the anti spam law?

[WilliamTheV]

04:37 AM on 04/26/2012

difficult to enforce. Where does the crime occur? Is it the location of the server? or the guy who actually presses "send"?

If the server is out of country, then the most the feds can do is trace the traffic back to that server, and then ask whoever controls that server for their records, if the server operators refuse to comply, then there is no way to know who accessed the server and when. At this point it's up to *that* nation's police force, necessitating international police departmental co-operation, or interpol, and they're more worried with child exploitation and the like to go after guys trying to sell knock-off viagra.

[jonny dipstick]

08:44 AM on 04/26/2012

That is true. They do have better things to do. It would be a good exercise for government hackers to get experience ruining the computers of those spammers. Seems like a win win.

[thewirah]

10:41 AM on 04/25/2012

Damn, only 2nd. Oh well, better luck next time. USA! USA! USA!

[BernieKeating]

01:45 PM on 04/25/2012

lol!

[Hardy Blacklord]

04:05 AM on 04/25/2012

We're #2!! We're #2!!

We need to try harder and send more spam, so we can beat India next year and become #1!!

[krishbhatt]

05:29 AM on 04/25/2012

US has 245 Million Internet users
India has 121 Million
Korea 401 Million (According to Internet World Stats)

What it means compared to US, computers in India are twice as much affected. It is scary because I am from India.

[eric14]

10:00 AM on 04/25/2012

Population of South Korea is 50 million.

[susanbsbi]

01:01 AM on 04/25/2012

I was surprised that we were so close to the top

[Hardy Blacklord]

04:12 AM on 04/25/2012

I wasn't. Most Spammails in my spamfolder comes from American IP adresses.

[opprobrious]

12:20 AM on 04/25/2012

Why not just list them instead of the slideshow?

[uniqumm]

12:46 AM on 04/25/2012

Good question.

Wanna bet speculative answers wouldn't make it past the H P censors?

[Hardy Blacklord]

04:13 AM on 04/25/2012

It takes longer to click through the slideshow, so the ads are displayed for a longer time = more money.