The mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has captured the attention of people around the world so it should come as no surprise that scammers and identity thieves are using this event as an opportunity to steal people’s identity through malware infected phony news reports, photos and videos.  In 2011 similar scams tied to the Japanese Tsunami were common.  Throughout the Internet and on social media including Facebook and Twitter links to phony stories, photos and videos are appearing with tantalizing headlines such as “Shocking video, Malaysian Airlines missing flight MH 370 found in Sea,” “Malaysian Airlines missing flight MH 370 found in Sea – 50 people alive saved” and “CNN UPDATE Breaking – Malaysian Airplane MH 370 Already Found.  Shocking Video.”    Some phony links even promise videos of the plane in the Bermuda Triangle.  Unfortunately, if you click on these links, all you will succeed in doing is unwittingly downloading keystroke logging malware that will steal your personal information from your computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft.

TIPS

Never click on links unless you are absolutely sure that they are legitimate because they may well be just a lure to get you to unknowingly install malware on your computer, laptop or smartphone.  When looking for information upon which you can rely in regard to anything, stay with websites that you know are legitimate news sites.  Also, make sure that you have proper anti-malware and anti-virus software on all of your electronic devices and keep that software up to date with the latest security patches and updates.  The creators of malware and viruses are often ahead of the makers of anti-malware and anti-virus software, but it is important to keep your devices as safe as possible.