Scammers target Twilight fans
According to security solutions provider PC Tools, scammers are leveraging the huge popularity of vampire TV and movie sensation Twilight to add to their coffers.
Diehard Twilight fans, also known as “Twi-hards’, who search for information on Twilight’s author Stephanie Meyer are being lured to a site (365Multimedia.com) by the promise of an interview with the writer. When they go to the site, a window appears telling them that their PC is infected with malware and advised to download software to remove it. If they proceed, they are asked for their credit card details and malware is installed to capture the financial details.
When I did a search for Stephanie Meyer, the site was nowhere to be seen, but such is the way of these scams. They hit and run, only to pop up in a different guise at a later time.
With the Twilight New Moon movie hitting cinemas on Friday, expect more such attempts to part fans from their money. So keep your security up to date and don’t click on links on unfamiliar sites — if you have malware on your system, your security software will identify and remove it.
Gail Lipscombe has worked for some of Australia's hottest tech magazines for over 10 years. In her blog, she focuses on demystifying technology, gadgets and the web for average consumers.