Bogus USPS E-Mails Doing the Rounds

One fresh surge of bogus e-mails purporting to be from USPS (U.S Postal Service) are presently circulating online as they attempt at loading malicious software onto the computers of unwitting end-users, so published Softpedia.com in news on March 26, 2011.

Displaying the caption, "Post Express Information, your package is available for pick up," the malicious messages addressing the recipient as client with a notice number state that his parcel has come back and is presently lying at the Post Express department. Actually, the place where the parcel was to be delivered was wrongly indicated. Meanwhile, a mailing label is attached to the e-mail for knowing about the parcel delivery in detail, which the recipient needs to take a print out of and bring for collecting the parcel from the Post Express department. Thereafter, extending thanks to the recipient, the messages sign off from Post Express Support, according to Zdnet.com dated March 25, 2011.

In the meantime, the attachment that's named Post_Express_Label_ID [number].zip, carries a malevolent .exe file, which when executed, drops a Trojan installer that's sparsely detectable by Virus Total's anti-virus engines, it's reported.

Normally such Trojan installers get used in pay-per-install schemes wherein online crooks make payments for getting their own malicious programs disseminated through them.

And if anyone becomes victimized with this as well as loads the Trojan, chances are that he'll get more infections, especially sacreware, on his machine.

Meanwhile, the bait of parcel delivery notification isn't being used for the first time. There have been other instances too of similar attacks, which exploited FedEx, DHL, UPS and likewise brands.

Disturbingly, according to security specialists, it's because of the above kind of spam scams that there has been an enormous rise in malware during the recent years. This remark becomes increasingly worthy when Cisco a technology corporation acquiesces with it, while outlining within its report for Q4-2010 that malicious software programs had increased 139% during 2010.

Additionally, such spam scams further appear to prove correct Dasient a security company's forecast that malware will keep on rising during 2011 as online crooks discover more advanced methods for defrauding netizens.

Related article: Bugs Swell In Browsers in 2006

» SPAMfighter News - 4/7/2011