Spammers Jump On Bird Flu Bandwagon
By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb.com
Wed Oct 26, 1:54 PM ET

U.K.-based Sophos warned users that it has noticed a rising number of messages peddling Tamiflu. Tamiful is the Roche-made drug that reduces symptoms of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

Sophos discovered one spammer with a message starting out, "Bird flu case discovered in the USA" as a way stoke fears and prod people into buying Tamiflu from a Web site. The statement's not true; no confirmed cases of the avian flu have yet been found in the United States.

Swiss drug maker Roche has warned consumers against purchasing Tamiflu online, saying that it has evidence some of the medication sold on the Internet is fake.