Experts at SophosLabs, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers have warned users of a 419 e-mail scam in progress. E-mail messages announcing a new miraculous cure for AIDS are in fact a scam meant to trick users into sharing their confidential credit card information. The 419 scams are dubbed this way after a section of the Nigerian penal code where many of them have their origin.

In this case, the unsolicited e-mail comes from a Yahoo address and claims to be sent by a 19 year old boy who has discovered a cure for AIDS. The message that accompanies the e-mail is puerile enough to disguise it as coming from the son of a farmer. "Daddy kept telling me about one particular root in the bush, which he claims can cure any infection. I never had confidence in that root until I performed the miracle myself one day." The one day miracles is actually, as revealed further in the message a three month period by which time the "boy" claims to have cured AIDS.

"People who receive this email may believe they are helping the world fight AIDS, as well as potentially make themselves some money from the proceeds of any distribution of a successful cure. However, the scammers are just using another method to try to dupe computer users into divulging sensitive information," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant for Sophos. "It's particularly sick of the hackers to exploit human illness in their search for innocent computer users to fleece."