The swine flu outbreak has spawned another virus—scams. Only days after the swine flu made headlines, reports of scam emails started popping up. Now, the Better Business Bureau is telling everyone to be on the lookout for fraudulent emails and Web sites trying to take advantage of scared consumers.

The BBB said that according to McAfee Avert Labs, an online security company, by April 29, 2% of all spam was about swine flu. The messages bear subject lines such as “Madonna caught swine flu!” and “Swine flu in Hollywood!” and often contain links to phony online pharmacies. Other online sites are selling bogus vaccines.

More than 250 Web sites with the term “swine flu” were registered within the first few days following the announcement of the outbreak, according to F-Secure Corp., another online security company. Sample domain names that were registered include swineflurelief, swinefluremedy, swineflureport, swinefluresearch, swineflusurvival, swineflutest, and swineflutreatments. F-Secure predicts that the sites will be used for a variety of online scams.

One such site is already selling a “Swine Flu Survival Guide” PDF for $19.95. What’s worse than paying money for free information, this PDF file reportedly drops a malicious code onto the victim’s computer via a file called “Bloodhound.Exploit 6.”

Another spam email includes news headlines from legitimate agencies and asks recipients to share their experiences with the outbreak by either going to a Web site and filling out a form or replying to the email. Of course, personal information is requested, according to a post on Symantec’s blog, so your red flags should be going up.

“Scammers read newspapers, watch TV, and surf the Internet, and they know that by using a hook from the day’s top headlines, that they’ll be able to catch lots of fish,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson. Responding in kind, TV stations and newspapers across the country have been attempting to warn people.

The BBB says don’t believe any online offers for vaccinations against swine flu, because a vaccine doesn’t exist. As always, avoid opening emails from unknown sources, and don’t click on any links in the body of the email or open any attachments. The only virus you get may be from one of these links, so be sure your antivirus and antispyware software is up-to-date. And if you receive one of these emails, delete it or forward it to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.

For updates on the progress in fighting the real flu virus, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.