Bonn - Hackers have started trying to hit people where they live by distributing e-mails with fake news of local atrocities in the hope of getting people to open a link and expose their computer to danger. One trick is to send out an e-mail with a subject line reading, "At least 18 killed in your city," according to the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

The included link as though it leads to a Reuters news article, but secretly delivers a damaging program to the system, if the user clicks on a video player. The only safe option is to delete the e-mail without opening the link.

Recognizing the dangerous e-mails is especially tricky since spammers have found a way to target IP addresses, thus allowing them to ensure that, for example, someone living in Berlin gets a news link that appears to come from that city, says the BSI.

So far, computer safety software has been unable to recognize the malicious software or malware. (dpa)