[tony]

You probably have an email spam filter, but shady internet marketers are
moving away from email and looking to capitalize on your web browsing.

In a current article by Dmitry Samosseiko of SophosLabs Canada, Sophos
Inc., we are told of vast international criminal gangs joining to gain your
confidence. They are using "fake watches, fake anti-virus software, fake
pills and fake love – the webmasters get their commission, making
thousands of dollars per day."

Fake anti-virus is familiar to us on Talk of The Villages. Scam artists
recently attempted to use the trust members have in Talk of The Villages to
divert viewers of our site to the scammer's site with what is termed
scareware: the fear of your computer getting a virus.

These scammers are selling "Generic drugs produced without a licence,
pornography, pirated software, casinos, dating sites . . . the list goes on,"
the article said.

Samosseiko said, ". . . (email) filters continue to impact spammers’ profits,
forcing them to shift to new (yet still aggressive) advertisement techniques."

He tells us who the scammers desire: " . . . a person searching for cheap
drugs online is a significantly more valuable target to shady online
pharmacies than millions of email spam recipients who’ve never asked for
it."

"This explains why the number 1 position on the Spamhaus Top 10
spammers list," he said, "is now taken by the ambiguous ‘Canadian
Pharmacy’ group."

The shadiest of businesses, he points out are the following.

• Online pharmacies selling generic versions of popular drugs.
• Networks promoting ‘scareware’, a.k.a. ‘rogue anti-virus’ products.
• Counterfeit luxury products such as fake Rolex watches.
• Casinos.
• Adult sites.
• Dating services.

Customers are directed to these sites by spam messages posted on blogs
and forums. While our forum employs the latest in filtering software to catch
these posts, we want members to be mindful that some day one may get
through. Question offertory posts. Don't be taken. Don't be duped.

We catch and filter dozens of these culprits monthly, but we never know if
the next one will be smart enough to get by our software. Be dubious of
clicking on something that seems the least bit alien or suspicious.

Macintosh users must also be wary. Samosseiko has this to say.

"Mac users are not immune to the scareware threat. In fact, there are
‘codec-partnerka’ dedicated to the sale and promotion of fake Mac software."

The entire article may not be of interest to non-technical people, however,
you may read it at the following link.

Click here to read the article is at Sophos' web site.