When the economy is in a downward spiral, almost 3 million people are without jobs, home foreclosures set a new record on a monthly basis, and millions more people can no longer afford healthcare, people get desperate and will follow anything that seems to offer even a glimmer of hope. Cyber criminals are counting on it. The collapsing economic conditions might explain why MessageLabs (now a Symantec company) is reporting a 300% rise in financial fraud spam over the same timeframe a year ago.
Just because times are tough does not make it any more likely that you won the U.K. or Irish lottery, that an unknown deceased benefactor has left you millions of dollars, or that you have been selected by an exiled Nigerian Prince to help launder tens of millions of dollars out of his country for which you will be handsomely rewarded. If its too good to be true, it probably is. Make sure you take a look at Secure Your Email and Protect Your PC From Phishing and Spam for information to educate you about the threats and resources to help protect you from them.
Comments
Comments are closed for this post.