Online scammers and cyber-criminals are using the hysteria over the recent strain of swine flu to steal credit card details and sell fake drugs, security experts have said.
“The scare has spawned a spamming frenzy, like sharks smelling blood in the water,” Symantec’s Mayur Kulkarni said in a blog post.
Another security firm, F-Secure, has compiled a list of 146 swine flu-related websites that have been registered in just the last few days by cyber-criminals who are advertising for “donations” and spreading fake swine flu survival guides.
Security firm McAfee has said that registrations with the word “swine” are 30 times more popular, while a new site titled “noswineflu.com” is offering a “swine flu prevention guide” for $US19.95.
The US Government-run Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has warned users to not click on suspicious links or take advantage of any of these offers.
“If users click on this link or open the attachment, they may be directed to a phishing website or exposed to malicious code,” US-CERT said.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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