Spammers Tempt Users to Watch Simpsons Movie

After discovering a spam campaign that has been exploiting people interest in 'The Simpsons Movie' waiting for release in July 2007, security vendor Sophos is warning computer users not to respond to surveys through unsolicited e-mails.

The spam mail announces a reward of $500 Visa gift card to recipients who would take part in a survey conducted online. The e-mail depicts an image of Homer Simpson resting on a sofa dressed in Superman top and tight white pants. The graphic asks the reader to answer a survey if he would like to watch the movie 'The Simpsons'. On clicking the image, the surfers reach a web page containing similar pictures of The Simpsons, which requests for the user's active e-mail address.

Senior technology consultant for Sophos, Graham Cluley, explained the consequences of entering e-mail address on the fraudulent page. First, there are absolutely no chances of getting a gift. Secondly, by providing the e-mail address, it would only enable a spammer to carry out his activities. The surfer by confirming his contact id would help spammers to rush junk e-mails to the person's inbox. It would just be crazy for anyone to provide his valid e-mail id on that web page, Cluley concluded.

People hungry for new super hit movies open opportunities for cyber criminals to lure the unwary and make endless profits. People generally do not think twice before clicking on links in unsolicited e-mails.

Sophos suggests that companies should use a comprehensive solution to safeguard their gateways, servers and desktops with the purpose to foil the threats from viruses, spam, spyware, hacking and phishing.

Cyber criminals don't defer from taking advantage of such exciting opportunities and trick users into opening attachments or visiting sites. Major supplies of malware, spam and phishing attacks took place soon after such events.

In a similar incident, Sophos detected a worm in June 2007 that claimed the death of the teen wizard in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow' resulting in infection of USB drives. Another threat in May 2007 spammed out what posed to be a movie trailer for the forthcoming 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 8/2/2007