Spammers, Scammers Use Swine Flu to Advantage
Typical of any such crises, whether its the aftermath of an even such as an earthquake, or in this case, the swine flu, phishers and spammers are taking advantage of the situation.
Symantec reports on spam that seems designed to simply gather email addresses and phone numbers for a future campaign perhaps.
As shown above, one example contains a subject line that says "Suspected Mexican flu toll hits 81." It asks recipients if they are located in Mexico or the U.S. and if they know anyone affected by the flu. Recipients are also asked to provide personal information, either by going to a Web site and filling out a form or by replying to the e-mail with their e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number.
McAfee's Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling Viagra.
Finally, US-CERT (United Staes Computer Emergency Readiness Team) has its own warning about spam and phishing.
Let's be honest: these sorts of scams are inevitable when something like this comes around. People panic, and the Internet, which has become a major source of information for just about anything, becomes a way for spammers and scammers to phish, spam, or even distribute malware.
Just exercise caution (out there).
Symantec reports on spam that seems designed to simply gather email addresses and phone numbers for a future campaign perhaps.
As shown above, one example contains a subject line that says "Suspected Mexican flu toll hits 81." It asks recipients if they are located in Mexico or the U.S. and if they know anyone affected by the flu. Recipients are also asked to provide personal information, either by going to a Web site and filling out a form or by replying to the e-mail with their e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number.
McAfee's Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling Viagra.
Finally, US-CERT (United Staes Computer Emergency Readiness Team) has its own warning about spam and phishing.
Let's be honest: these sorts of scams are inevitable when something like this comes around. People panic, and the Internet, which has become a major source of information for just about anything, becomes a way for spammers and scammers to phish, spam, or even distribute malware.
Just exercise caution (out there).
