Spammers hawk fake flu drugs
Filed under: Communication, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law
Somebody’s gotta be making money off the swine flu crisis du jour — and it’s most likely spammers.
Security analysts are reporting a spike in the number of spam messages that reference the illness, often using the names of celebrities to give the e-mail that extra polish spammers depend on to get folks to open their e-mails.
In many cases, links in the spam lead to online drug sites that either dispense phony or substandard medications, or simply exist to snag credit card numbers from naive consumers. (The big drug the spammers are using to lure victims: Tamiflu, the anti-viral that’s been shown to be effective against the H1N1 virus that’s spread globally.)
HR and IT will want to warn users not to open, click through or buy drugs from these cybercriminals.
If you want a bottle of Tamiflu, call your doctor. And wash your hands while you’re at it.
