E-books Posing Threat: Reveals BBB

According to the latest warning issued by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), a number of pirated e-books offered by many websites are circulating malicious content, with an intention to infect the user's e-reader.

By the report published by the American Association of Publishers, sales of e-books showed drastic sales with an increase of 144.4% amounting to US$ 649.2 Million during the first 8 Months of 2011. In February 2011 itself, sales of e-books showed undaunted results leaving traditional paperback way behind. E-books turned out to be the most acclaimed gift item for the holidays.

BBB President and CEO, Michelle L. Corey pointed out the greater advantage of e-books in his blog, for which e-books are much in demand and also highly preferred. He also outlined a pre caution for e-readers and suggested them to be much more careful while making an e-purchase for avoiding plagiarized and worthless books, as published in his blog on December 20, 2011.

While affirming about the recent scam, BBB also included information about marketing of cheap e-books filled with useless and imperfect presentation of information that are likely to contain malware for obtaining all credit card-related details. Sometimes, the same book is also authored under different titles and written by the same author to generate unauthorized money.

Apart from e-book spam, e-mails or advertisements are also sent to e-readers with carefully encrypted malware that takes over the machine at the other side or load a system with unlimited malware. Even the seemingly hot links and commercials on these sites may contain malware.

As a recommendation, security experts precautions e-readers to verify the URL prior to any purchase. URLs beginning with 'https://' is a clear indication of the legitimacy of a site. Other than that, only popular websites should be selected for avoiding being victimized.

Moreover, BBB also suggests e-readers to highly stick to the recognizable authors and not to be carried away from superb reviews on site. Readers should pertain from clicking the links inside the book unless it's a recognizable site by a well-known author. Even, if a site clears up on all these aspects, it is still advisable to visit the legitimate web sites through the Internet browser rather than using the link directly.

However, in the worst case, if a reader assumes to be entrapped despite all the cautionary advice, it is reasonable to seek a refund and register a complaint with the customer service department of the seller.

Related article: E-Crime Reporting Format To Be Launched in July

» SPAMfighter News - 1/5/2012