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  • Cyber crooks churning out trick flu emails

    Cyber crooks are capitalizing on influenza fears with torrents of email promising "swine flu" news but delivering malware or dubious offers for potency drugs or penis enlargement.

    An alert posted late Thursday at the US Food and Drug Administration also warns that scammers have launched websites hawking bogus products "that claim to prevent, treat, or cure" the H1N1 flu virus.

    The FDA said it is "informing offending websites that they must take prompt action to correct and/or remove promotions of these fraudulent products or face immediate enforcement action."

    "Zombie" computers infected with a dreaded Conficker virus that became an online scourge this year are among machines being used to spew flu spam crafted to trick email recipients, according to computer security firm Trend Micro.

    "The thing making it worse is the misinformation out there about swine flu," Trend Micro threats research manager Jamz Yaneza said Thursday.

    "These guys have picked up on all the fears people have. With all the hysteria of swine flu, some people click on these emails."

    Subject boxes of spam email feature lines such as "Swine Flu Outbreak!" and "Madonna Catches Swine Flu!" in order to grab people's interest, a tactic referred to by hackers as "social engineering."

    The words "swine" and "flu" had essentially not been seen together in spam prior to the third week of April, David Marcus of McAfee said in a blog posting at the computer security firm's website.

    The word combination surged in spam on April 27, with half the email apparently coming from sources in Germany, Brazil and the United States, according to Marcus.

    McAfee said it has also seen keywords "swine" and "flu" used to direct Internet users to a Russia-based website booby trapped with a computer virus.

    "Malware writers, spammers and scammers are low lives," Marcus wrote.

    "They will use any high media event or high impact news story to push their wares including the sickness and misery of others. Stay vigilant and stay safe."

    Crime groups involved with Conficker, Storm and other computer viruses that take control of people's machines and weave them into "botnet" armies are most likely behind the flu spam, said Trend Micro global director of education David Perry.

  • #2
    Re: Cyber crooks churning out trick flu emails



    FDA-
    Fraudulent 2009 H1N1 Influenza Products List
    <!--==== BEGIN Topic Page Title ==== --> <!--SS_BEGIN_SNIPPET(fragment8,body)-->

    Topics on this Page

    Purpose of the Fraudulent Products List
    This list is intended to alert consumers about Web sites that are illegally marketing unapproved, uncleared, or unauthorized products in relation to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus (sometimes referred to as the ?swine flu? virus). Note that until evidence to the contrary is presented to FDA, the owner of the listed Web site is considered responsible for promoting the unapproved, uncleared, or unauthorized products. The uses related to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus are not necessarily being promoted by the manufacturers of the products.
    Consumer Considerations about the Products List
    • This list does not include every Web site that is marketing products related to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus without FDA approval, clearance, or authorization, only those Web sites to which FDA has issued a warning letter.
    • Even if a Web site is not included in this list, consumers should exercise caution before purchasing over the Internet any product purporting to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, treat, or cure the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus.
    • Please note that some of these products may be approved or cleared by FDA for other medical uses. The fact that a product is listed on this page indicates ONLY that the products are not cleared, approved, or authorized for the diagnosis, mitigation, prevention, treatment, or cure of the 2009 H1N1 flu virus.

    Once included, all Web sites and products will remain listed. After FDA has verified that the products or the objectionable claims related to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus have been removed from the Web site, this information will be added to the list.
    The information is current as of the date indicated. If we learn that any information is not accurate, we will revise the list as soon as possible.
    View Products List
    Important note: Consumers are advised that FDA has not determined whether these Web sites include products promoted for uses not related to the 2009 H1N1 Flu Virus that are also illegally marketed because they are not approved, cleared, or authorized by FDA for those other uses.

    <table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <th align="left" width="45%">Browse by H1N1 Flu Unapproved, Uncleared, or Unauthorized Products</th> <th align="left">By Search</th> </tr> <tr> <td width="45%">Topics on this Page

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    Download All H1N1 Flu Unapproved, Uncleared, or Unauthorized Products


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    </td> <td valign="top" width="40%">
    <form action="http://google2.fda.gov/search" method="get" name="mainForm"> <input id="search" name="q" size="40" tabindex="1" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" type="text"> <input name="as" value="GO" tabindex="2" type="submit"> <input name="client" value="h1n1flu" type="hidden"> <input name="site" value="FDAgov-apps-h1n1flu" type="hidden"> <input name="lr" value="" type="hidden"> <input name="proxystylesheet" value="h1n1flu" type="hidden"> <input name="output" value="xml_no_dtd" type="hidden"> <input name="getfields" value="*" type="hidden"> <input name="filter" value="0" type="hidden"> </form> You can search by:
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    </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Download All H1N1 Flu Unapproved, Uncleared, or Unauthorized Products

    H1N1 Flu Unapproved, Uncleared, or Unauthorized Products [Excel - 50KB] [PDF - 18KB] [XML]
    Download Microsoft Excel Viewer
    </td></tr></tbody></table>
    "In the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man (or woman https://flutrackers.com/forum/core/i...ilies/wink.png), and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for it then costs nothing to be a patriot."- Mark TwainReason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. -Thomas Paine

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