Symantec Announces August 2011 Symantec Intelligence Report

Symantec yesterday announced the results of the August 2011 Symantec Intelligence Report revealing that spammers are seeking to benefit from fluctuations in a turbulent financial market. 

The report combines results from the Symantec.cloud MessageLabs Intelligence Report and the Symantec State of Spam & Phishing Report. 

According to Symantec, the turbulent market drives “pump-and-dump” stock scams. Spammers cause an artificial rise…

Cameroon Urged to Get Tougher on Cyber Crime

Law enforcement officials in Cameroon say hundreds, possibly even thousands, of unemployed youth have turned the Internet into a breeding ground for scams, typically targeting European and U.S. individuals and organizations, Voice of America reported.

Abeng Roland, a member of the Cameroon and American bar associations, told VOA the rampant surge in the reports and complaints…

‘Yemeni Assassin’ Attempts Extortion

A man in England was baffled to find himself the target of Yemeni assassins who claimed to have been hired to “terminate” him with extreme prejudice.

Charles Anderson told The Register he received an email from a “Gladlord Mohammed” informing him that “i have being paid $200,000.00 in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employers.”

However, Mohammed continued: “i have followed you closely for one…

Scammers Attempts to Trick Users to Delete Legit Software

Scammers have developed a new virus designed to dupe users into uninstalling legitimate security products. A virus calling itself AnVi Antivirus, generates a pop-up message that legitimate applications are “uncertified” and should be removed, according to The Register.

While many viruses work to surreptitiously disable security software, this new technique relies on social engineering to convince users to disable or delete products themselves. If a user fails to follow the…

Angelina Jolie Used by Scammers to Distribute Malware

Cyber criminals, who are always quick to latch onto the latest trend to disseminate spam, have taken to using the launch of Angelina Jolie’s new film, Salt. The criminals are placing infected QuickTime files on file-sharing sites purporting to be related to the new movie.

Users who attempt to download the files receive a prompt to download “update codecs,” which are actually Trojan infected files. The trap appears…

FBI Warns of Online Scams, Predators, Social-Networking Ploys

In testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on Wednesday, FBI’s Assistant Director Gordon M. Snow highlighted how yesterday’s con men have transformed into modern-day charlatans conducting their scams in virtual worlds to steal identities and other critical information.

Social-networking sites, especially, are breeding grounds for cyber criminals who trick unsuspecting victims into revealing…

Scammers Take Advantage of Buzz Around Toy Story 3

Scammers are notorious for jumping quickly on the latest trends, including the World Cup and iPad launches. They have now turned to using the buzz surrounding Toy Story 3 to lure in unsuspecting victims to bombard them with pop-up software scams and fake survey websites.

The scams, purporting to show clips of Buzz and Woody talking, send users to malware-infected and useless sites. Some even claim to offer games related…

Scareware among Fastest-Growing Online Scams, Says FBI

Pop-ups telling you your computer has been infected with a virus and then insisting on buying a certain anti-virus solution are not only incredibly annoying, but they can also masquerade as carriers of malware.

Called scareware because they scare consumers into buying bogus anti-virus programs, this type of scam has become one of the fastest-growing types of online frauds, according to the FBI. Instead of removing the supposed virus, the…

Scammers Look to Dr. Who for Support

Cyber scammers are well known for latching onto the latest trends to fool victims into falling for their scams. This happened with the disaster in Haiti, the World Cup and is now happening with the season finale of Doctor Who, a program that airs on the BBC.

Cyber criminals are posting fake video clips, infected downloads and spoilers, according to The Register. Fans who click the links are invited to…

Facebook Used to Find Money Mules

Phishers are looking into different ways of reaching new recruits of cyber criminals by casting their nets onto social networking sites, creating special Facebook groups for their work-at-home scams, according to Kaspersky Lab.

Far from a novel idea, phishers have been using social networks for years to find new recruits. Now, the scammers have created Facebook groups specifically…