Anti-spam experts at Sophos have discovered a spam campaign
attempting to recruit internet users to a "make money fast" scheme
by exploiting the popular fictional boy wizard, Harry Potter.
Sophos's global network of spam monitoring stations have sighted
thousands of instances of an email claiming to be instructions on
how to win a copy of the as-yet-unpublished next book by JK
Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
|
| The email claims to offer a copy of the new Harry
Potter book. |
The emails claim that recipients can get a free copy of the book
by clicking on a link, but this in fact takes users to a website
offering advice on "free money-making secrets", with no mention of
the troubled teenage wizard.
|
| The spam email really links to a website offering
'free money making secrets'. |
"A lot of people are trying to make a quick buck out of the
internet - and some are doing it in immoral or unethical ways,"
said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Websites like
this one need to pull in traffic and prospective customers somehow,
and it appears they're now using the trick of pretending to offer a
copy of the Hogwarts' hero's latest adventure."
Last week, Harry Potter author JK Rowling warned fans to beware
internet fraudsters who were phishing for credit card details by
pretending to offer electronic copies of the new book online.
Sophos PureMessage has been proactively protecting businesses
around the world from this latest spam campaign since it was first
seen at the beginning of the month. Sophos experts report that the
spam campaign appears to originate from the area of Chicago.
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend businesses
from the threats of both spam and viruses.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.