Osama bin Laden may be dead, but his terror looms large on the internet with cybercriminals using this as a bait to lure innocent people and make money.

Following the news of Laden's death, cyber criminals were quick to set up phishing sites to lure people who were searching for and sharing information about the Al Qaeda leader.

According to the security software firm Symantec, the first spam using news of Osama's death was seen within three hours of the event.

However, so far there is no estimate available of the losses on account of these cyber attacks.

One of the phishing attacks has spammers sending mails to people, which claims to have links to photos and uncensored videos of Osama, and directs users to phishing site.

This site shows an auto-running Osama video and asks user to click on the link to download complete video. Upon clicking, the link downloads an infected file, which then downloads content from the web and sends out information without the user's permission.

"Cybercriminals look to make a killing by leveraging the big news through spam, phishing and social engineering tactics," Symantec Director (Development) Abhijit Limaye said.

Sensational news items such as Osama's death provide cybercriminals with the perfect opportunity to make money ? a large audience is interested in this news, making them vulnerable to such tricks, Symantec said.

This information can then be used to launch additional attacks or steal sensitive bank account or credit card details, it added.

India, which has been a victim of terrorism for many years now, needs to be careful as the internet population is on the rise.

About 54 per cent of Indian internet users access social networking sites and 52 per cent use the web to look for information through search engines, according to industry reports.

Facebook and Twitter also seem to be breeding grounds for such scams, with malicious links being circulated through posts and messages.

Security experts at another security software maker McAfee have cautioned people on messages that purport to offer photos of Bin Laden's body, funeral at sea or any additional details.

"Use a complete suite of security software on the PC and ensure all security updates are installed," McAfee added.