Hogwash Alert: How to Survive the Pandemic of Swine Flu Scams and Swindle

Long before you'll ever come down with swine flu, you'll be exposed to another kind of virus sweeping the world: A global outbreak of online scams and swindles preying on your fears of the so-called aporkalypse. In coming days when you receive emails offering a variety of ways to ward off swine flu, you can be sure of one thing: it's hogwash.

Computer viruses earned their name for good reason: They multiply and spread just like human viruses. And right now, Internet security experts say, swine flu scams are spreading at pandemic levels.

To protect yourself, they say, watch out for four kinds of threats:

• Swine Spam: At various points over the last few days, swine flu has been mentioned in four percent of all the spam on the Web - that's billions of emails. Many of the email subject lines are engineered to grab your interest:
- "Madonna Caught Swine Flu!"
- "Salma Hayek Caught Swine Flu!"
- "Swine Flu in Hollywood."

Modern-day snake oil salesmen know people around the world are extremely interested in the subject and will open their emails, click on their links, and get sucked into a netherworld of phony Websites and bogus cures.

"The (swine flu) scare has spawned a spamming frenzy, like sharks smelling blood in the water," writes Mayur Kulkarni of Symantec, a leading Internet security company.

If you start clicking on links or video in these emails, personal information and credit card details can be harvested.

• Malware: Malware writers - people who create programs designed to infiltrate and damage computer systems - are beginning to take advantage of swine flu. They're sending emails with PDF helpful-sounding attachments. One, for instance, is named "Swine influenza frequently asked questions.pdf."

"Unfortunately, if you get this far, you've been infected," Kevin Haley of Symantec writes, adding: "Symantec detects the malicious PDF file as Bloodhound.Exploit.6 and the dropped malicious file contained in the PDF as InfoStealer."

How to avoid this problem? "Keep your security software up to date," Haley writes, "keep your systems patched, and be suspicious of unsolicited email that talks about topical subjects. Be very careful when such email includes attachments, links to websites, or videos that it says you should view."

• Swine Flu "Cures" and "Remedies"

Back in 1918-1919 during the devastating Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50 to 100 million people, snake oil salesmen peddled all kinds of products, including electric blankets to dry out damp sick beds; mustard oil baths to kill off the flu bugs; and incandescent gas burners to sterilize the air; and even mints to kill the germs on your tongue.

Today, the Internet makes it a breeze to set up shop and start selling nostrums. When the H1N1 scare hit the headlines, Web experts saw an instant thirty fold increase in the registration of Websites with the "swine flu." Examples include: SwineFluRelief, SwineFluRemedy, and SwineFluSurvival. Experts suspect these domains will be used to push scams on people searching for protection against the virus.

"The last thing any consumer needs right now is to be conned by someone selling fraudulent flu remedies," says Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

One example: New promotions on the Web assert that swine flu - and many other ailments - can be eradicated by using so-called colloidal silver, a mixture that includes very fine silver particles. One Website advises: "Here are 7 important steps you should consider taking right now in order to protect yourself and your family." It goes on: "Step #1: Get a high-quality colloidal silver generator NOW, while they are still available."

So what's the deal with colloidal silver? "Colloidal silver as a cure-all is a fraud with a long history," writes David Colker in the Los Angeles Times. "In 1999, the FDA banned claims of therapeutic value for over-the-counter colloidal silver products. Studies showed the so-called tonic could be dangerous, causing seizures and kidney damage. Pregnant women were specifically warned that colloidal silver could cause harm to fetuses. "

[Click here to see the FDA's growing list of "fraudulent" H1N1 influenza products.]

• Counterfeit or Foreign-Made Knock-Offs:

Experts warn that you also should be alert to emails and Websites offering lower-price antiviral drugs like Tamiflu. Buyer beware: Many of these sites sell either counterfeit or foreign-made knock-offs of brand-name drugs. Gambling on these cheaper and illegally imported products could risk your life, security experts say.

So, how can you protect yourself?

The Better Business Bureau recommends:

• Avoid opening e-mail from an unknown source and do not click on any links in the body of the e-mail or open any attachments. Instead, delete the e-mail or report it to the Federal Trade Commission by forwarding the e-mail to [e-mail].

• Don't believe online offers for vaccinations against swine flu because a vaccine does not exist. For more information on swine flu and updates on progress in fighting the outbreak, go to www.cdc.gov/swineflu

• Make sure your anti-virus and anti-spyware software is up to date and all operating system security patches have been installed. If your computer becomes infected as the result of a spam e-mail about swine flu, you can report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

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For more information about swine flu and surviving other kinds of life-changing adversity, please go to The Survivors Club Website.

Comments

[MerrieWay]

Grandma's common sense helps. If your child or anyone in the family runs a high fever, see a doctor. Avoid large crowds where booths of food-stations are serving. Follow MerrieWay's 3 W"s ...Wash you hands, Wash your clothes, Wink instead of shaking hands.

[aeremetc]

Stay grounded. If you have a legitimate question that you want to ask a real doctor you can do so at this blog. http://travelvaccineforum.wordpress.com/

[MJinCanada]

The makers of antibacterial soaps and waterless hand sanitizers are also having a marketing field day.

However, plain old soap and warm water used for a leisurely 30 second washing, is just as or more effective at removing viruses.

[buzzjane]

I read sometime ago, that the antibacterial (alcohol based) that you see everywhere and in every form were not sufficient. Check on medical sites to verify if you have a question, but they are over-used and over-condoned. Betadine is more effective, but just good soap and warm water and washing for the time it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" is one sure way to keep hands clean.

[lilian101]

Since Mexico banned street vendors and Meixcan hookers are marching in the streets demonstrating against the Mexican restrictions, U.S. Support for every citizen of Mexico has blossumed into a new right of every Mexican to have anything they might want in the US!
We have busses available and drivers licenses and SSI and Section 8 housing, and dental services and in state benefits for State Colleges and Universities (so Mexicans don't have to pay out of state tuition like a US Citizen from Arizona would) and full scholarships for Mexicans, because Mexicans

[JoBangles]

OMG! The sky is falling! The invasion is upon us! The Mexicans are spreading Swine Flu to depopulate the US of gringos! They're responsible for global warming, the latest snowstorms,
and spike it teenage crime and pregnancies. And probably why the Democrats won the election.

Given how much hate and turmoil that has been generated by the recent "outrage" over the
"illegal aliens", it would not surprise me to find that the whole damn thing was a conspiracy
by some group of far right nutcases who had gotten hold of some lab versus and got it into Mexico.
The hate is just that bad by the fascists of the far right.

[squarebird]

Mr JoBangels, the global warming hoax was perpetuated by the same forces of the far left as is the current panic. Anything to justify handing over our freedom and resources to the government so that it can secure our safety and security. Remember, the Department of Homeland Security and the federalization of airport security were both leftwing initiatives which were resisted by the more anti-statist politians (including even the somewhat statist George W. Bush).

[JustMyWords]

Wow.

Just, wow.

If you make your hats from the heavy-duty tinfoil, it might stop the brainwaves better.

[lindro]

The biggest swindle of them all lies with Big Pharma and their owners.

Gilead Pharmaceuticals manufacturers of the (no) bird flu vaccine. That scare took Gilead in one year's time to go from the red to put $90 million in Donald Rumsfeld's pockets. In the past 6 years, there has been only about 100 deaths out of 8 billion people on the earth, and never from person to person. Seeing where the deaths occurred, I'd be wary of the diagnoses.

Last month, however, Baxter Pharmaceuticals in Austria managed to catch a batch of regular flu vaccine laced with the bird flu virus, it may not be long before a decision is made to infect a population.

Rumsfeld, the Bushes and the Saudi Family and the Bin Ladins privately and through corporate ownerships like the Carlylse Group, have huge interests in many big pharma companies such as the manufacturers of Vaccine A for the (NOT) Anthrax threat. I know about Vaccine A first hand because of my son who received his shot at Ft. Dix before leaving for his first tour in Iraq. That shot for the non-existent threat landed him in the Emergency room with high fever and breathing problems.

Scare the hell out of people and sell vaccines.

There's the question of aspartame, which, in the 70s was ruled unsafe by the FDA, but due to lobbying and cajoling by Rumsfeld, was ok'd and now goes into anything diet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErngurkB3J0

[tssent]

Hey Ben....
Didn't you mean:

Hogwash Alert:
How to Survive the Pandemic of Swine Flu Scams and SWINEdle ?

[Sally OBoyle]

The real scam to look out for is a vaccine. Read up on the last swine flu outbreak, aka the "Swine Flu Fiasco." That vaccine killed 25 people and gave 500 Guillian Barre disease before President Ford stopped the innoculations. Count me out.

[ESerafina42]

Well, we have obviously made NO progress in medicine in the past 30 years and a new vaccine will be EXACTLY like the previous one. Does your doctor offer you a choice between bleeding and leeches?

[JnrNorman]

Oregano Oil, Pau D'arco, mild silver protein all kill Bird Flu, Herpes, HPV, and swine flu too.

Aids In Africa
Bovine Colostrum: Our mission is to inform and educate people about the highly positive, broad-spectrum benefits of bovine colostrum.www.icnr.org/articles/AIDS.htm

[StThomas]

If you go to incr.org, you find a lot of easily refuted nonsense, and no evidence that bovine colostrum can affect any oucome in humans. "For information on how to obtain please contact...."
I think we are being sold something.

Oregano-If curry or Italian food cured herpes and hpv, there would be far less of both about.

From paudarco.com:"The evidence of Pau d'arco's effectiveness is scattered around the interent and across a few books and articles on the subject" Which does not fill me with confidence. Yhe misspelling of internet is theirs, not mine.

I have no idea what "mild silver protein" is, but if it is anything like colloidal silver, check Argyria on wikipedia and on www.quackwatch.org

What trials have you done on these things and swine flu, jnr Norman, that allow you to make these assertions with a clear conscience?

[lilian101]

If Italian food cured herpes, then the Italians would not have herpes, and apparently the Romans are credited for happily spreading herpes and italian cooking throughout Europe.

[MargaretBBack]

THIS IS NOT A SCAM but I agree with Ben there are lots out there.

As Swine Flu is spread by human to human contact, and children are the # 1 spreaders of germs, it becomes imperative to EDUCATE children on how germs are spread.
Young children don't spread germs because they want to, they don't know how NOT to.
Germy Wormy Germ Smart for Kids educates and entertains kids while teaching them how to NOT spread germs with a Sesame Street Puppet show on video. Picture Elmo teaching kids about germs.
Please pass along to anyone who has young children and is concerned about the spread of the Swine Flu
http://www.germywormy.com

[JScott]

So far I haven't gotten any online, but I have a good spam filter, altho I still get those occassional Nigierian money ones. I dunno about snail mail, I'm still getting the 'we'll adjust your property taxes for a fee' or 'renegotiate you mortgage' thingie's but they go straight to the shredder (ya read that originators of this......­.........T­HE SHREDDER!!!!!).

[dsws]

"lower-quality, less regulated generics, which could pose health risks, security experts say. "

The link doesn't provide anything to support the claim that generic drugs are of lower quality or subject to less-stringent regulation. Here's what the FDA says: "Health professionals and consumers can be assured that FDA approved generic drugs have met the same rigid standards as the innovator drug."
http://www.fda.gov/cder/ogd/index.htm

Of course, I wouldn't trust a spammer to provide medicine that really is what they claim it is. But that's the same whether they're claiming it's name-brand or generic.

[ijgibson]

We forget too easily the only difference between the branded drug and its generic version. When a new drug is put on the market, the patent holder deliberately gives it a Brand name which is quite different from the name of the actual chemical compound - eg Diazepam / Valium. The patent holder then spends far more money promoting this Brand name than they spent on the research to produce the drug, so that when the patent runs out, the medical profession and the public are so 'imprinted' with the Brand name, they consider it superior to the chemical (ie the generic) of which it is composed. So they carry on prescribing and taking the hugely more expensive branded product. Just check on the manufacturing cost of diazepam. You'll find that Valium sells at a very large multiple of that price.
Its called marketing - and is, in effect, a similar scam to many of the disastrous financial ones we're all now suffering from !

[zaz33]

Swine flu IS the scam.

Follow the money.

[southernoldie]

You got that right. The drug companies must be dreaming of dollar signs right about now, BUT they are paying MD's and anyone else they can to say ALL Homeopathic meds are scams. NOT!! I've saved 1,000's of dollars by using them & NOT going to a Dr. & getting the side effects from the drugs that they all prescribe. am healthier than any friend I have that is bloated up & looks twice their age, from taking 3 to 5 or more prescribed meds daily. Dr's. learn what they are taught by the med schools, which are taught by the drug co's. They are NOT into preventative medicine; why should they be, they're getting rich off their sick patients, but they don't look for a cause, just a way to treat them. Any fool can watch the drug commericials & listen to the side effects & see that the treatment is worse than what they have, for God sakes, even death from them being mentioned. No thanks, I'll keep studying and take natural forms of tretment & try to find the cause. I know many good treatments & stay away from the Dr. 90% of the time and if I just have to take an antibiotic that will tear my whole digestive system up, I make sure I take acidolphous or a good probiotic along w/ it, so my friendly bacteria isn't disturbed. Hardly any Dr's. will tell you that, nor probably know it. .

[StThomas]

Could it not simply be that when you take lactose tablets, homoeopathic medicine that is, you experience the placebo effect and feel better.?Perhaps you are constitutionally healthier than your friend. Essentially, I think you have attributed your health to homoeopathy and not to your genes, which is more plausiible. And anything with no effects will certainly have no side effects.

The probiotic thing, is found in mainstream medicine, and is not just a CAM thing; there is science behind it.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj.39231.599815.55v1

[cable1977]

Thank you for posting a more reasonable article. Some of your articles posted in the last few days, despite being accurate and fact filled, have leaned toward the "hysteria" side of the situation. It is a fine line to be on, but anytime you give facts, figures, and predictions about something like a potential pandemic you certainly run the risk of driving people towards hysteria, especially when the current flu does not really appear to be any worse than the normal flu.

[speakingout]

Three years ago, Bush allocated $1 billion of the taxpayers money to a few drug companies to come up with a vaccine for the bird flu. Money spent, now they have to sell the vaccine, so the government allocates $1.5 billion to distribute it. Now, we are out $2.5 billion, the drug companies are in heaven and only a handful of people had to get sick. If this isn't propaganda, I don't know what is. The american people are being "conditioned" so that whenever the government cries wolf, we all run scared . Which is their goal. Over 25,000 people die every MONTH from diabetes! Why is THAT not a pandemic? They already have the cash cow moving. A vaccine has the bacteria in it. You're not going to get me to take any of their "drrugs" When the CEO and the politicians take the vaccine, we'll see how "real" the pandemic is. My bet is they'll make some excuse, because they know what a scam this is. It's all about the money!!
Check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBeKB7aKzOs

[goddess1871]

This is always useful information. Though not always true, malware writers and spammers often give themselves away because their subject lines, attachments, etc. look like they have been written by a fourth grader.

[melior]

Thanks for this post, Ben. I've seen a lot of pseudoscience promoting things like homeopathy, crystals, chelation, colonics and other useless or dangerous woo, so it's good to see your voice of reason on the pages of the HuffPo. We all need to unite together to encourage people to seek the advice of MDs, not fringe or "alternative" medicine purveyors, psychics, astrologers, or similar con artists.

[southernoldie]

Unite yourself, Melior and trust your Dr's.....don't listen to "Dead Dr's. Don't Lie. You may learn something.