BBB Cautions Online Users about E-mails on Michael Jackson’s Death

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says that people should be vigilant while purchasing music, memorabilia or videos of late Michael Jackson on the web.

Carrie A. Hurt, President and CEO of BBB serving Central, Coastal and Southwest Texas, says that people should be wary of unsolicited emails that refer to Michael Jackson's death, as reported by kxan in the last week of June 2009.

Further, BBB informs that these mails could dupe people and could be harmful for their systems. Therefore, user should delete these e-mails immediately to keep their PCs safe. It has also advised that do not reply scam e-mails and avoid purchasing anything from unknown emails.

As Michael Jackson was known for his donations and charity funds, attackers could cheat users into donating funds to a bogus charity in expectation of generating some money. Therefore, BBB has cautioned online user to be careful of such e-mails.

CEO of BBB, Angie Barnett, said the scam e-mail might read as - 'download a secret Michael Jackson video', but when a user clicks on it, he is in fact installing a Trojan horse program on the system that can steal passwords and other important details and send them to a distant location, as reported by bizjournals on July 1, 2009.

Thus, BBB has asked online user to be careful of these video e-mails.

Moreover, BBB has posted an alert message on its official website to inform users to be careful of such scams.

BBB suggests that users should have at least two e-mail IDs. Maintaining two email IDs can help to distinguish clearly between authentic and unsolicited mails.

Users should not giver their email IDs. They should be alert against doubtful mails asking to verify their e-mail IDs as users do not have any idea how their IDs could be abused.

Further, BBB informs users to contact for more details on scam at 1-800-388-2222. In addition, it says that users should forward the unsolicited mails so that necessary investigation can be carried out to trace the hackers.

Related article: BBA Outlines Steps To Ward Off Online Fraud

» SPAMfighter News - 7/10/2009