Spammers cash in on Steve Irwin's death

Spammers are using the death of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin to collect email addresses for future spam campaigns, security experts warn.

According to Sophos, video tribute emails to Irwin, who was killed earlier this month by a stingray, lead to sites that offer several video tributes including tributes to 9/11 victims and troubled celebrity Anna Nicole, but that really just exist to harvest email addresses.

Before internet users can view the tribute video, they need to give their email address, which will be used later for marketing and advertising spam emails, Sophos claims.

According to Sophos, if you click on the video link, you are given an opportunity to invite five of your friends along to view it too, by entering their email addresses.

“Always think carefully before giving your email address to any website especially if it has just spammed you. Websites like this are preying on people's interest in news stories like the death of Steve Irwin in their attempt to collect email addresses," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

According to another antivirus company, Panda Software, a fifth of emails received by web users are spam with one in 20 emails being infected by viruses.

www.sophos.com

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