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Airline ticket scam revealed

Internet users trawling the internet for airline tickets have been warned to watch out for a new email scam that could leave them exposed to online threats.

Messages claiming to be from Continental Airlines with the subject line 'Your Online Flight Ticket' have been intercepted by security firm Tend Micro, which says they contain a malware.

"The message thanks the recipient for availing of a new service called 'Buy flight ticket Online' and provides account details - even a password," said Mayee Corpin from the internet security firm.

"Then it makes the recipient simply print out the attached 'purchase invoice and plane ticket' before they use these, and they're off! How convenient."

However, before clearing a message stating that the recipient's credit card has been charged is displayed, which may lead some to open an attached file in order to solve the problem.

Falling for this exposes users to the WORM_AUTORUN.CTO programme, which automatically accesses websites to download other possibly malicious files.

Online security experts advise against opening attachments from unsolicited messages and keeping security protection up to date.

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