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Cyber-criminals are presently taking advantage of the Swine Flu scare to trigger their phishing attacks, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) said on Monday.

In its regular security advisory page, the US-CERT said that email scams are now circulating related to the Swine Flu, a deadly disease that has so far affected over 3,000 people in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

"The attacks arrive via an unsolicited email message typically containing a subject line related to the Swine Flu,” the advisory stated.

According to the US-CERT, the email messages may contain a link or an attachment that, when clicked or opened, will direct the user to a phishing website or expose the system to malicious code.

Users are encouraged not to follow unsolicited web links or attachments in email messages. The US-CERT also reminded users to always update their antivirus software and read information on how to avoid email scam and learn more about social engineering attacks.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) which directly handles Swine Flu cases has a legitimate website that users can refer to if they want more information about the deadly disease.

US-CERT said only the CDC can give trusted information regarding the Swine Flu virus.