Spammers tug on heartstrings hoping to get at your wallet

In the same way that social trends seem to start on the West Coast and spread across the US, spam trends have a way of starting in South America and then spreading worldwide. True to form, a new spam campaign spreading banking malware is novel, and devious – and a little sad. The message is supposedly from the mother of a missing child

Translation:

Human Rights

A mother speaks to you completely desperate.
My son Lucas Souto of 4 years has disappeared on the 3rd of February 2009 in the city of Belo Horizonte.
I am using all forms to try to find my son, including this email asking for help to PLEASE look at the videos and photos which should also be shared with friends and family.

The video was filmed on his 3rd birthday party: {link} (289KB) Photos of Lucas that might help: {link} (234 KB)

Like any good piece of social engineering this email is designed to get you to lower your defenses. The mother's plight is sad. Perhaps you could help. There are videos and photographs. What does the little boy look like? Perhaps we should take a look?

You should never open files that arrive in unsolicited emails. If curiosity did get the better of you in this case and you open the zip file, you'll find a Microsoft Windows Control Panel Extension – a .CPL file. This is just another type of executable, and is NOT how videos or pictures are sent. In this case, it's how malware that steals bank passwords – Trojan Banload in this case – is sent.

If you see a dialog like this, just say ‘cancel', and just remember that spammers will do or say just about anything to install malware on your computer.

Barracuda Networks customers using the Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall are protected from these emails.