First Came Swine Flu, Now Come the Scams

As if swine flu wasn't scary enough, now Attorney General John Kroger is warning (PDF) about scams inspired by the disease. Kroger's office is encouraging people to be vigilant about screening e-mails from unknown sources and not to follow links to bogus medical sites or sites that pitch defenses against swine flu.

"We are trying to warn people before they get burned by these scams, because of course swine flu is a hot topic right now," says Kroger spokesman Tony Green. "This is a global scam."

Green says his office has already caught a number of scam emails in their own spam filters with sensationalized subject lines like "Madonna has caught swine flu." They have tracked many of those emails to China.

Legitimate websites for info about swine flu include Multnomah County's Health Department, the state Department of Human Resources or the federal Centers for Disease Control.