Crime time

Crime traditionally increases during the holiday season, and cybercrime is no different. The malware writers, spammers and scammers are out in force. They’ve recently hit “Odnoklassniki” with this message:

“Hi! I’ve got a New year surprise for you [emoticon] send 2133 279 (must be with a space) to 4460 and you’ll be pleasantly surprised! If you don’t take a look, I’ll be very grouchy with you [emoticon]”

This message is clearly designed to make the bad guys a bit of holiday cash: an SMS sent to the number given in the message costs between $5 and $12 dollars, depending on the mobile service provider.

With similar messages going out on other social networks like VKontakte, Facebook and MySpace, the scammers could do nicely out of this one. And because the messages might come from friends or contacts who’ve had their accounts hijacked, it’s easy to be fooled.

Enjoy the holidays, enjoy spending time with your family and friends, and enjoy the Internet – just be careful and keep safe!