New Spam Technique

For a while I've been using an Outlook plug-in to filter spam. I even recommended these free spam filters. This plug-in I've been using was designed to learn, based on my input, what I considered to be spam vs. legitimate e-mail. And for quite some time it worked very well.

Unfortunately, it looks like a new spam technique has emerged that is getting past the filter I have. I have to admit this new spam is quite clever despite being so simple. Take a look at the screenshot of the spam below. At first glance certain words pop out and are quite readable. But you'll notice that in between each letter of the words is faint lower-case letter. This is done via HTML and completely fools my spam filter because it doesn't see the "spammy" words as a single unit. Instead, it sees individual letters each of which or not considered "spammy".

This is quite smart. It targets the way our eyes work while also targeting the way spam filters work. I wonder if the creators stumbled on this technique or if we're now dealing with a much more sophisticated industry than in the past. I'm hoping it's a fluke.