Footie fans face threat in the Net

A new Internet virus is being spread as football fans try to snap up free tickets to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The new variant of the sober worm mass mails itself by e-mail. It uses various subject headers - one appearing to be from Fifa stating: ' Congratulations, you've won free tickets.'

It is the attachment, Fifa-Info-Text.zip, which carries the virus.

Once opened an error message appears and the worm is launched. It then modifies Windows so each time the infected computer is started up, it destroys more files.

Computer anti-virus expert Jamz Yaneza said: 'Even users savvy enough to suspect this e-mail is fake may be tempted by the offer of free tickets. It can be a bad gamble.'