Cyber crooks out for LinkedIn members' bank accounts

Cisco on Monday warned that crooks have inundated LinkedIn with emails crafted to trick members of the career-oriented social networking service into downloading software that loots bank accounts.

Cisco computer security specialists said the messages at times accounted for nearly a quarter of all the spam email sent to LinkedIn members.

The email is a phony contact request and contains a booby-trapped link that, if clicked on, infects computers with malicious software known as "ZeuS."

"ZeuS embeds itself in the victim's Web browser and captures your personal information," such as online banking credentials, and is widely used to criminals to pilfer commercial band accounts," Cisco said.

The US technology firm advised people to delete such contact requests, especially if they do not know who they are from.