Identity Thieves Woo Spanish Speakers with Love Songs

Spanish speakers are lured to buy international romantic songs but instead they have their identities stolen. Bitdefender spotted a spam campaign exploring users’ melancholy and depression, the two least welcome holiday guests.

Here’s a reason to be jolly: relationships are the most common trigger for Christmas depression, according to a study reported in 2007 by the Mayo Clinic. Also, two-thirds of women report depression during the holidays, as a survey by the National Women’s Health Resource Center shows.

Scammers have a strong academic background in exploiting human weakness, so they prepared a holiday surprise for Spanish speakers out there.

The spam poses as a commercial e-mail for LOS MEJORES LENTOS INTERNACIONALES DE LA HISTORIA + UN BONUS UNICO!!! As users find out after clicking the malicious website that promises they will fall in love again, the bonus is actually an identity theft. Ay, caramba – a unique bonus indeed!

Shania Twain’s “You´re Still the One,” Madonna’s “Take A Bow” and Elton John’s “Sacrifice” are just a few of the romantic songs advertised on the harmful website. Though the scam is in Spanish, the pop-ups appearing when clicking the malicious website register users’ IP and may come in languages including English, French, Portuguese, and Norwegian.