If you get an e-mail claiming to have naked pictures of a sex-starved woman named Emily, do not open it.
That’s the advice from the security firm Sophos, who noticed e-mails titled “Nake pics as you’ve requested” (the poor spelling courtesy of the spammers) spreading around the Web yesterday (Feb. 22). The e-mails, from “Emily,” read, “I am hungry for sex. If you feel the same then take a look at my picture I am attaching to this email and reply back so we could hook up.”
If you click on the attachment, you won’t be rewarded with a scandalous picture. The link is actually a Trojan that informs you that your computer is infected with viruses, and then tries to trick you into purchasing antivirus software.
This long-running scam tactic is called scareware -- mostly harmless malware that convinces you to fork over money to fix a computer problem that doesn’t exist.
Sophos suggests basic common sense to avoid falling victim to this online trick.
“Come on guys, it's 2011. We should all be smart enough not to fall for tricks like this anymore,” a Sophos blog reads. “You should always be asking yourself why is someone sending this to me? Do I seriously imagine that a complete stranger is going to seek me out as a sexual partner over the internet, sending me photos of herself naked, despite never having communicated with me before?
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