Bleeping Computer article on Baiting emails used as a precursor to phishing

Article here 

Purpose of a baiting email

• Confirm that the recipient’s email address is valid
• Confirm that the email address is actively used
• Confirm targets' susceptibility to unsolicited emails
• Test the effectiveness of automated spam-detection solutions

There is another web article on baiting emails from Keepnet Labs

"As is the case with all forms of Social Engineering, Baiting relies heavily on psychological manipulation to take particular actions that are potentially harmful. It is an information security confidence trick with the malicious aim for the victim to give away highly confidential and personal information. This is then used to form the basis for various methods of cyber crime and gain access to personal and organisational networks. "