E-mail virus masquerading as copy of new Harry Potter book stalks the Web

Dubai: Computer users in the UAE have been warned to beware of an e-mail that pretends to contain a copy of the forthcoming Harry Potter book but which will infect recipient computers.

The e-mail is circulating just as interest in the seventh and final installment of the last Harry Potter series - titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - builds to fever pitch ahead of its July 21 publication.

The e-mail, and a similar computer pop up, spreads what is known as a malware - a malicious piece of software that can infect the user's computer.

When people try to open the document, they find that it contains just the phrase "Harry Potter is dead" and meanwhile the malware infects their computer, changing its homepage and causing a special message to appear when they log in.

Samir Kirouani, senior technical engineer of Dubai-based IT company Trend Micro, said people should take care to ensure their machines did not become infected.

"Once again these malware authors exploit highly-anticipated events in order to spread their malicious codes to the public.

"Harry Potter fans could just treat the news of his death as an ugly rumour, but they could definitely exercise caution and practice safe surfing when investigating such claims online."