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Fake FTC E-Mail Contains Computer Virus

by Tim Stevens on October 30, 2007 at 10:07 AM



We've said it before and we'll say it again: Never trust an e-mail, especially one carrying attachments, regardless of where it says it comes from. Still don't believe us? Check out this latest example, an e-mail purporting to be from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that supposedly is notice of a complaint posted against you, the recipient. The attached complaint is, of course, not really a complaint, but rather a virus that is, ironically, resulting in thousands of complaints made being to the FTC.

Early reports suggest that the virus doesn't delete or corrupt your files, but instead runs itself in the background on your computer and logs your keystrokes. This type of virus is called a keylogger, and can be harmful because it can record and save private information like passwords and bank account numbers. This confidential information is often used by cyber-criminals to clear out your bank accounts or steal your identity.

If you should receive such an e-mail -- it'll be from the 'frauddep@ftc.gov' e-mail address and will be full of spelling and grammatical errors and typos -- don't open it. Instead, just forward it on to the FTC's spam database address, spam@uce.gov, and then delete the thing. Whatever you do, do not open the file attachment, as that most likely contains the virus. That said, sometimes even opening the e-mail may be enough to infect your machine depending on your settings, so you'd better run a virus scan just to be safe.

You do have a virus scanner ... right?

From Government Technology and InformationWeek


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Tags: computer viruses, ComputerViruses, e-mail, e-mail scams, E-mailScams, Internet Security, InternetSecurity, keylogger viruses, KeyloggerViruses, Phishing, scam, security, virus

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