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November 24, 2011

Fake iTunes gift certificates target Black Friday shoppers

Voucher emails offering $50 worth of apps or music contain malware

By CBR Staff Writer

In the run up to Thanksgiving, US Apple owners have become targets of fraudulent iTunes voucher emails offering $50 worth of apps or music which contain a malware infected attachment.

Users are receiving an email that claims to be from Apple’s iTunes store, says the Eleven security blog.

These arrive with email subject lines such as "iTunes Gift Certificate" with an attachment supposedly containing a certificate code.

However, these zip file attachments are infected with the Windows PC-compatible malware, which security experts at Sophos have identified as Mal/BredoZp-B. Affected machines will begin to show signs that important files have been deleted and will slow down gradually.

Though reports of such incidents have not come in the UK as yet, users have been asked to take precautions as the holiday season approaches.

Meanwhile, Sophos warned of a separate threat linked to Facebook, where users are said to be receiving emails claiming that they have violated the social network’s policy regulations by annoying or insulting other members.An attached link takes users to a page that shows up a fake "Facebook Account Disabled" form.

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