ONLINE scammers are rearing to make a buck from people hit by the economic credit crunch.
In a report released last Friday, information security firm Symantec said that online scammers are preying on job-seekers' worst fears - the dreaded rejection letter - to infect their computer system with a virus.
Symantec's manager for systems engineering Avinash Lotke said spammers traditionally try to convince users to read their junk mail by camouflaging it as a special offer of some sort, or a message from a contact.
While this tactic works well and continues to be effective, letters related to potential employment are a prime target in the current economic climate, he said.
Those who decide to peruse the e-mail may be urged to click on an attached file to find out why they were turned down and how to improve their chances at their next interview.
Opening this file plants a virus within the computer's system. Once loaded, some viruses will send out further messages to people in e-mail applications, while others try to extract information like stored credit card details.
Besides the rejection letter, scammers are also preying on financially strapped users via other 'business' scams.
One tries to con users into signing up as a freelance blog contributor, said Mr Lotke.
Users reading the message are told that a blog is paying a generous US$45 (about $60) an hour to freelance writers to write some simple articles.
Those interested are directed to a slick website where they are asked to register an account and include their personal details, including their bank and credit card information so payment can be made. These details are then peddled off to other spammers or scammers.
Another variant of this scam wants the wannabe-writer to pay an administrative fee - money which the user will not be seeing again, said Mr Lotke.
- The Straits Times
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