by Alexis Cala, PICurrent Assistant Producer
Courtesy of Buggolo
Spammers are sending billions of spam, or junk emails all over the world using “swine flu” to trick people into opening messages. Your inbox could be next.
Every day 80 billion to 170 billion email messages are sent out, and about 90 percent of those are spam, according to McAffee security experts. Unfortunately, even cyber criminals are trying to cash in on the swine flu publicity and are using email as a way into your wallet, information, etc.
If you’re not sure, delete it.
The majority of people who do open these emails are directed to sites selling fake products, like vaccines or PDF documents. What they don’t know is that these sites are actually trying to install malware (tracking cookies, Trojans, worms, etc.) which steals information and/or can damage your computer (read the full story on Reuters).
Several groups recommend immediately deleting any e-mail messages with the following subject lines:
- Swine flu worldwide
- Swine flu in the USA
- US swine flue fears
- First US Sine flue victims
- Swine flu in Hollywood
- Selma Hayek or Madonna caught swine flu
- US swine flu statistics
- NY victims of swine flu
- First US swine flu victims
If you receive an email with one of these subject lines, don’t click any links or open any attachments!
The officials at the Better Business Bureau offer these tips to avoid swine flu spam:
- Do not open e-mails from unknown sources. Do not click on any website links in the body of suspicious e-mails or open any attachments.
- Keep anti-virus and anti-spyware software up-to-date. If your computer becomes infected as the result of a spam e-mail about swine flu, you can report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
- Forward suspicious e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov
Visit our sister site, The Beehive, for more information and a great section on how to keep your computer safe.
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