They're Vibe-Coding Spam Now

Summary

I have a problem: Unlike most people, I actually read my spam folder on a regular basis. (Often, they’re some of the most interesting emails I get.) I find spam to be intriguing, interesting, and often highlighting some modern trends.And sometimes, it surfaces something I actually care about that missed my other folders, like an upcoming interview I’m excited to share with all of you.But one thing about spam that has been true across the board is that it’s ugly. Really, really ugly. Often, what will happen with spam is that they’ll get your email address through questionable means, say a leak of your information in an exploit, and flood your inbox with some of the worst crap you’ve ever seen.But recently, some of these clearly trash emails have gotten a design upgrade:A spam email informing me that my fake cloud storage platform is full.That is a relatively attractive spam email, trying to sell me on a scam. It is obviously the work of one Claude A. Fakeguy.It has that swing. Other, less attractive spam emails also have this swing, such as this one:A less attractive email informing me of upcoming video game addiction litigation. How did they know!?!?But what I think the real tell is that these emails hang together when you have images off, which they did not in the past. This is a problem, because in your spam folder, images are automatically turned off.Hence why this email warning me that my antivirus plus renewal failed now looks like this:Oh no, what will I do on my Linux computer that doesn’t support your antivirus program?This is a funny, if troubling element in the history of spam—and probably a spot of bad news for people who use vibe coding to actually make real things.The strange thing about spam is that it tells you what the internet’s underbelly is into.The slop looks more competent than everPut simply: Now that the baseline of what makes something well-designed, albeit spartan, has increased, many of the signs we once used to detect a spam message are ge...