30 April,2009 10:38 AM IST | | Shashank Shekhar
Fake online pharmacies are offering anti-flu drugs to dupe netizens, steal credit card details
The deadly swine flu, which prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency, is ready to invade your inbox. Spammers and cyber crooks across the world are looking to exploit the mass hysteria over the deadly viral by sending out spam emails that offer drugs to cure this flu. But not only are these drugs fake, if a user accepts the deal, he or she may lose credit card details as well.
According to international cyber security providers, millions of spam emails about fake pharmacies are flooding the Internet, which entice users to click on links leading to malicious software.
Cybercrime expert Subhash Dasyam said, "Netizens should not bank upon online pharmacies because there is no guarantee that the drugs they offer are real. Often people, who pay hefty amounts to buy them, receive nothing. Besides, they end up losing details of their credit cards and other personal information."
Interestingly, the spammers have smartned up, using social engineering to dupe people. They disguise themselves as non-hackers who need or give informationu00a0 about the flu to gain access to personal systems.
Their campaigns have become more responsive and sophisticated. To make malicious emails look authentic, spammers are using names of famous personalities in flu-related articles. These include "First US swine flu victims!", "Salma Hayek caught swine flu!", "Swine flu in Hollywood!" and "Madonna caught swine flu!"
"Security researchers have found that registrations of websites that include swine in their names have increased thirtyfold. These sites could be aimed at people searching for news about the swine flu. Those finding these sites are clicking on the stories within and this may load viruses on their computers," Dasyam said.
He further said, "Many Indians are also falling prey to these spams. But hardly any case gets registered."
