Virus:   "Michael Jackson Suicide Attempt" (aka Troj/Borobt-Gen)

Status:   Real.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2005]

Subject: Re: Suicidal aattempt Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt. They suggest this attempt follows the last claim was made against the king of pop. 46 years old Michael has left pre-suicid note which describes and interpretes some of his sins. Read more...

Origins:   Capitalizing on the publicity created by Michael Jackson's 2005 trial on criminal charges involving child molestation, this malicious message attempts to lure readers into visiting a particular web site by presenting the phony (and badly-spelled) news that the pop star has attempted to commit suicide and offering them a chance to read more about the incident (and presumably view Jackson's "pre-suicid" [sic] note").

Clicking on the embedded link, however, takes the reader to a web site which displays a message claiming that it's too busy — another phony message, this one serving to camouflage what the site really doing: downloading the Troj/Borobt-Gen trojan horse onto the visitor's computer.

Additional information:

Michael Jackson Suicide Spam Leads to Trojan Horse (Sophos)

Last updated:   10 June 2005

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  Sources:

    Sophos.com.   "Michael Jackson Suicide Spam Leads to Trojan Horse."

    9 June 2005.