Spring is quickly turning into summer and spammers are taking full advantage of it. The Cutwail botnet, which was last seen pumping millions of Valentine’s Day themed spams hawking male enhancement products, has now turned its attention to weight loss.

Security researchers are reporting that the botnet has now begun sending out a flood of spam hawking weight loss products containing acai. Acai is a berry found in South America that allegedly fights cancer and aids weight loss. Acai pills, drinks, liquor and even ice cream are being sold via spam. It’s important to note that the FDA has not studied the Acai berry and its health benefits are completely unproven.

According to researchers, the spams all link to the same Russian website:

          All roads lead to Rome, but a great many IP addresses lead to Russia. In the case of Cutwail-originating-acai-spam, one line of text is followed by many leading to the same Russian website. Following any one of them leads the gullible to the site and enables javascript, which runs a five-minute timer. After five minutes, the acai-entranced finds himself/herself in a chat session sales pitch.

It’s safe to say anyone handing over their credit card details to the site should not expect a positive outcome.

Acai spam now accounts for 10% of all spam being sent. The rise is attributed to the coming summer months. Spammers are hoping with the swimsuit season fast approaching that people will be looking for quick and easy ways to lose weight and be willing to shell out money for their shady products.