May 2005 saw a sharp rise in the amount of spam targeted at women, particularly for slimming products.

As summer approaches email headers like 'No Room For Thunder Thighs In a Bikini' are being targeted at women in the same way as erectile dysfunction products are aimed at men. Other products include dietary supplements, and body wraps that supposedly absorb fat.

"The move to directly target women with 'health-related' email this month shows spammers' ever-present desire to develop new audiences for their products by any means necessary," said Neil Hammerton, chief executive at communications management firm Email Systems.

"Unfortunately, such scare marketing to specific audiences is becoming a frequently adopted tactic by the spamming community."

May saw a slight overall reduction in the amount of spam sent, down to 89.37 per cent of all email compared to 91.79 per cent in April.

But virus activity soared to nine per cent of email at times, following the release of a new Sober variant which forwarded right-wing hate mail in English and German.