Entrepreneurs are being urged to police their e-mail accounts with extra vigilance because of a scam that demands PC users pay hundreds of pounds to comply with a bogus health & safety organisation.
Despite the remote working nature of freelancers, many entrepreneurs and limited company owners are believed to have paid up because of the authentic look of the e-mails.
They state that company bosses must register with the 'Health & Safety Registration Enforcement Division' or face expensive and legal consequences.
The electronic messages add that registration to the health authority is charged as a compliance cost of £199, but those refusing will face charges of £249.
The real Health & Safety Executive has since condemned the hoax e-mails and denounced the thousands of letters sent to smaller businesses from a Bradford address.
Computer observers have pointed out that running security tools on a PC, such as anti-virus software that scans incoming e-mail, will not detect the hoax or keep bosses from parting with their petty cash.
They say that even running a creditable anti-spam service, such as the popular www.emailsystems.com will not prevent the e-mails getting through, as they have no "malicious" software.
Despite this, such technologies serve to protect PC users from other types of unwanted e-mail and help relieve pressure on the network.
Some small business commentators have even pointed out that such software to monitor your incoming mail can also reduce internal stress for a SME, while helping co-workers to concentrate on the important task of running the business.
Computer security firm, Sophos, has recently warned about a spate of e-mail attacks, which similar to the 'Health & Safety Enforcement Division' hoax, is outside of anti-spam, virus or firewall software.
Although the firm's online list of offenders fails to mention the Bradford-based culprit, they do identify a number of threats small businesses should be wary of as so-called 'incoming e-mail.'
The Tsunami victim letter, the Budweiser hoax and a collection of 'virus hoaxes' - where spoof e-mail informs you about a virus contained within your PC, are all examples of 'e-fabrications' that should be deleted immediately.
The firm explains that while no official research has been carried out on hoax e-mails, it is estimated that such bogus messages can cost a small business even more than a genuine virus incident.
They confirm that as no anti-virus will detect e-mail that is malicious in its intention, companies often panic when they receive a hoax e-mail, making the situation much worse.
"The amount of email that a typical hoax can generate is also a cost to organisations," said the group in an online statement.
"Once a few people in your company have received a warning and mailed it to all their friends and colleagues, a mail overload can easily result."
The firm also indicates that anti-virus technology, such as Mc Afee's VirusScan or Symantec's AntiVirus 2005, will not be able to detect chain letters, misunderstandings and false alarms - all different type of hoax e-mails.
Such attacks, like a chain letter, which typically asks to be forwarded to friends and colleagues wastes time and bandwidth.
"Hoaxes and chain letters are a nuisance for all email users," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the group.
"The hoaxes often claim the impossible, but some recipients may believe the message to be legitimate and take drastic action such as shutting down their network.
"Users need to consider carefully whether everything they receive via email is trustworthy."
Jan 28, 2005
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