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Cyber criminals are taking advantage of Michael Jackson's death by sending spam messages that question the musician's demise but also contain a computer virus able to steal bank account information and passwords. Computer forensics researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reportedly began tracking the spam June 30. Before Jackson's death June 25, the same virus took other forms such as electronic greeting cards, shipment-tracking links and a fake update to Microsoft Outlook, according to Gary Warner, the university's director of research in computer forensics. "With the high interest in Michael Jackson's death, the cyber criminals decided to change their delivery method to capitalize on that," Warner states in a report published on the Web site Daily News and Analysis. He did not return a request for comment by CardLine's deadline. The message in the spam e-mail message reads "Michael Jackson was killed, but who killed Michael Jackson?" The computers of individuals who click on the link in the e-mail message are immediately infected with malware, Warner says.
