By George, it’s a royal baby scam

Royal Baby email redirects users to a website which contains malware

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has issued a warning about email scams which involve royal baby Prince George of Cambridge.

The message subject line is `The Royal Baby: Live updates’ and includes a fake link to view a video feed from outside the hospital where the prince was born.

However, if people click on the link it will redirect them to a website which attempts to install malware.

According to a blog post by Trend Micro US anti-spam research engineer Cyril Coronado, over 10 per cent of hits to the malware website came from Australia.

Coronado added that similar phishing examples have emerged including one which pretends to be a CNN news report with the subject line 'US presidents have spotty record on gifts for royal baby'.

“The malware involved is generally well known to security vendors, so should be detected and blocked by your security software,” read the Department of Broadband alert.

“However, the type of malware being used by scammers can change and many types of malware can be adapted to improve their ability to avoid detection.”

The department advised Australians to delete the email and be on the lookout for newer versions of older phishing emails.

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia

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Tags trend microDepartment of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economyemail scamRoyal babyPrince George

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