Aspamemail notifying you that you may have cancer has targeted thousands of computer users in the UK. The horrifying hoax poses as an email from Nice (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), with the subject line reading ‘Important blood analysis result’. The email goes on to say that a recent CBC (complete blood count) test revealed that the recipient has a very low white blood cell count, which is often an early sign of cancer.
The Nice call centre was flooded with panicked callers in the wake of the hoax. Sir Andrew Dillon, Nice chief executive, said: “This malicious email is not from Nice and we are currently investigating its origin. We take this matter very seriously and have reported it to the police”. The hoax email tries to trick you into opening the attached zip file to view the test results. Doing this will install a Trojan on your PC.
In reality, the NHS would never communicate this type of news by email. People should be particularly wary of attachments in suspicious emails, which often contain malware just waiting to infect your PC.
COMMENT
The internet is rife with malign pranksters, bullies and scam merchants out to exploit vulnerable people. This scam is particularly disgusting, and reminds us that criminals will go to any lengths in their pursuit of personal gain. Across international borders, police forces are increasingly co-operating in their fight against hackers, but spam continues to be a major problem. If blatant scams like this are still dropping into our inboxes, then email providers need to set up tighter filters and more effective methods of flagging them up as potentially dangerous.
