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Boo! Halloween Spam Arrives
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-10-22
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Holidays have always been a favorite time to try and scam people, and the fall party that is Halloween is no exception.
 | | Boo! Halloween Spam Arrives |  |
Beware of ghosts and goblins, and things that go bump in the night. But beware of spammers, too, and the horror they can bring to one's personal computer.
Security firm Sophos warned people of Halloween spam offering a MasterCard gift card worth $250. The destination site at HalloweenOnUs.com asks for loads of personal information and other details.
"It's not immediately obvious whether this spam is being sent to commit identity theft or whether it's market research gone mad," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.
"If you visit the site and give it your personal information the chances are that you will be bombarded with unwanted junk email until hell freezes over." Cluley also said "there's no evidence" that anyone completing all of the forms will actually receive a gift card.
The old saying about no such thing as a free lunch bears repeating here. Giving up too much personal information to an unknown website could be part of a criminal attempt to exploit people.
Such information like date of birth or address may look innocent, but one has to consider if the people tallying this information have access to other details.
For example, any of the criminals who gained Social Security numbers or credit card data from one of the several security breaches at sites holding that data, could be looking for details to build a complete profile of a victim.
From there, the usual identity theft will likely take place, if it hasn't already.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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