Spam News

Stimulus package benefiting cybercriminals too

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission warned users of cybercriminals taking advantage of President Obama's stimulus package to create timely phishing scams.

There are two types of online stimulus scams, according to the FTC. One involves fake government websites that say anyone can "receive free money" by joining a certain grant program. The second has phishing emails targeting the personal information of users and an attempt to compromise machines with malware.

"Email messages may ask for bank account information so that the operators can deposit consumers' share of the stimulus directly into their bank account. Instead, the scammers drain consumers' accounts," states the FTC.

In order to dupe users, cybercriminals have reportedly used pictures of President Obama and Vice President Biden in an effort to make a site appear legit. Other sites have used logos from respected news agencies such as CNN and MSNBC as well.

Cybercriminals have used timely news in the past as a reference for phishing attacks. Recently, they used Obama's historic inauguration to launch spam emails, malware and phishing attacks related to the event.