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April 28, 2009

Spammers capitalise on Swine flu crisis

Emails offer links to online pharmacies

Carrie-Ann Skinner

Spam scams using the Swine Flu crisis to target unsuspecting web users are already accounting for two percent of global spam, says McAfee.

According to the security vendor, web users are receiving emails advertising drugs that will combat the disease and links to online pharmacies that claim to see the drugs. However the links navigate to hoax sites that could contain malware that will attempt to steal sensitive personal information.

The emails feature subject lines such as 'Swine flu in the USA' and 'First US Swine flu victims', but McAfee also revealed there had been emails that were linking celebrities such as Madonna and Salma Hayek to the virus.

McAfee is urging web users not to open emails from unknown sources and not to use links embedded in the emails.

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See also: McAfee launches Cybercrime Response Unit

Free whitepaper: Phishing for victims - Truth, myth and cybercrime

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