Spammers are infecting the internet with emails that prey on swine flu fears. Messages started within hours of the disease hitting the headlines and now account for an estimated 2% of all global emails sent.
The messages typically use tabloid-like subject lines to entice readers. These have included “Swine flu hits Hollywood!”, “First US swine flu victims!”, and “Madonna catches swine flu!”. Many are caught by spam filters but spammer strategies always become more sophisticated and many thousands of variants will be attempted.
Domain registrations featuring the word “swine” have also increased 3,000%. Cyber-criminals can automatically generate flu-related content in an attempt to exploit search engine queries.
The majority of spam and web links appear to lead to fake web pharmacies selling swine flu “cures” (there is no known medical cure at this time) or downloadable “information” documents. Those receiving counterfeit or worthless goods are likely to be the fortunate ones; many people will receive nothing, have their credit card details harvested, or be encouraged to download malicious software.
Swine flu may or may not develop into a world-wide pandemic, but news about the disease, its spread, and the victims will remain topical for weeks. Spammers have always exploited headlines and fears, but it is rare to find a subject with global interest that affects everyone on the planet.
As usual, avoid opening obvious spam messages or clicking links even if they appear to come from friends or colleagues.
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Spammers never rest *sigh*
May 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I hate wend 1 or 2 in mail adres it 100 spam by lot of compani , i make one new adres and second day 50 spam mail . this man dont sleep?
May 9th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
It’s a shame… but not so different from what the mainstream media does to sell ads. Preying on our fears is the oldest trick in the book.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:31 am
hmm we call it Mexican Flu in the Netherlands.
May 11th, 2009 at 5:51 am
As has been said, ALL advertising works the same way – marketers will dress it up as “providing a service” but it’s fundamentally rubbish.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I tried calling the swine flu hotline but couldn’t get, I could only hear crackling.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:52 pm