As it turns out, swine flu is a money-making opportunity for some. Last night, I covered a story about a local company preparing to make life-saving equipment for the government (if the flu becomes a pandemic). What I'm talking about today is completely different.

I'm talking about people who are either trying to scam you or sell you something you really don't need.

The Better Business Bureau sends us a lot of information (almost daily), but an alert they sent today caught my eye. According to the BBB, more than 250 websites using "swine flu" in its web address were registered in the past few days.

Every single site may not be a scam. In fact, some don't have any content yet. However, computer security company McAfee warns that this may set the stage for a future influx of scams. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team has also picked up on the warning.

However, there are early signs we'll see problems. Already, the BBB says there are spam emails trying to sell vaccines (there's no such thing), or PDF files with information you can use to protect yourself (the CDC gives out this information for free and so do we when we interview local doctors and disease experts).

I also talked with Vince Sechrest, who works for SSE. The company handles IT issues for lots of area corporations and businesses.

Here's his advice:
Avoid Opening Email with Subject Lines Referencing Swine Flu
Don't Fall for Vaccination Offers (because one doesn't exist)
Avoid Websites with Swine Flu in their Names
Don't Open Email from Unknown Sources
Avoid Clicking on Web Links in the Body of EMail Messages
Treat Email Attachments with Caution
Delete Suspect EMail
To Stay Informed, Rely on Trusted Sources like the CDC
Ensure You are Running Updated Anti-Virus Software
Ensure You have Updated Windows

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