INTERNET security firm Sophos is warning users that cybercriminals are using pop star Michael Jackson's recent death to spread viruses.

It has detected e-mail messages with links where unsuspecting users, hoping to watch videos of the singer's last moments, will actually download a Trojan virus.

Such a virus opens a backdoor into a victim's computer for a criminal to steal information like bank account numbers.

Other e-mail messages call on recipients to write back in order to get secret details of Jackson's death.

But by writing back, the recipient's e-mail address is harvested to be sold for spam mailing lists.

Another Hollywood icon, actress Farrah Fawcett, who died last week, has also been used by cyber criminals to spread fake antivirus software, a Sophos spokesman said.

Users are advised to delete the messages on receiving them.

'The fact is that cybercriminals have no respect for taste and decency. The only thing they are interested in is making some money for themselves, and turning other computer users' lives into a misery,' said its senior technology consultant Graham Cluley.