Massachusetts Police Alert Residents against UPS E-mail Scam

The Massachusetts Police Department has reported an increase in e-mails that pretend as a package sent by someone through a package delivery firm 'United Parcel Service' (UPS). The victims of the scams end up disclosing their identity or opening computer to hackers instead of getting the gift mentioned in the e-mail.

The scam talks about the failure of UPS to deliver an important package to the e-mail recipient. The text of the e-mail says that 'the package will be returned if the recipient doesn't click on the link', 'click on the attachment or the package will be returned to the sender.'

When the e-mail recipient clicks on the link, he is asked to verify his identity by giving personal information.

By filling in the information, the e-mail recipient opens the door for an identity thief. There are some reports that inform if the recipient clicks on the link, the installation process of a malicious program starts which allow hackers to steal account information.

Furthermore, there are a small number of variations of the scam which include those who have something at the US Customs.

In the second variation, the e-mail poses as a message from the 'US Customs service' instead of UPS. It informs that the recipient has an international package from France but he needs to fill in the attached customs form so that the package could be delivered.

In both the cases, the attachment has come in a compressed ZIP file (i.e. file whose name end in ".zip") although the icon seem to look like a Word document. As soon as the recipient double clicks on it, he becomes the victim of the scam.

This zip files downloads a program which again installs two more files on the targeted system. These files disable firewall, search for bank account details and credit card information, make screen snapshots and enable hackers to access machine.

Meanwhile, spammers have been aggressively using parcel and courier companies name to attract people's attention. Assistant District Attorney of DeKalb County warned people against a FedEx e-mail scam that installed computer virus in the machine.

Related article: Microsoft Patches Live OneCare to Tackle Quarantined E-Mails

» SPAMfighter News - 7/1/2009