Canada Post Alarms Customers of Phony E-mails

According to the warning issued by Canada Post, users shall completely overlook an e-mail, which pertains to the delivery of some package from the company. The e-mail is simply trying to infect users' system with a computer virus, which seems to emanate from Malaysia.

As per the details, the genuine looking virus, in both English and French, sends an e-mail to the users. It states that the company missed the particular recipient during the delivery. The receiver should look the income and then contact the company to ask questions, which will then retry to deliver the package the following working day, as reported by thestar.com on April 23, 2010.

The e-mail has an attached PDF that contains "Trojan" virus. When a user opens this attachment, it drops a virus into the user's system.

According to the IT specialists, the subject line of the e-mail reads: "IMPORTANT: Canada Post Delivery" and a number, both seems to be arbitrary.

As stated by the spokeswoman for Canada Post, Anick Losier, users must be suspicious about any e-mail claiming a delivery, as reported by thestar.com on April 23, 2010.

Due to the maliciousness of this e-mail scam, Canada Post is urging the users who are not waiting for any kind of package to promptly delete the e-mail that claims to have come from the company.

However, customers expecting a package must make it sure to check the enclosed tracking number in the email at legitimate website of Canada Post. In case that number is bogus, a notification in red letters will be displayed to the customer that reads: "Invalid Tracking Number format. Please check your entries and try again."

Experts say that one can evade these scams by following some simple steps. For instance, the most important thing is to install a trusted anti-virus program on the PC. Even though a system is not hooked up to the Internet, it would be quite sensible of a user to install a reliable anti-virus solution that would definitely be a low-cost addition to the system.

Besides installing anti-virus software, add-ons like anti-malware and anti-spyware solutions are a good idea. Lastly, before opening any e-mail attachment, users must scan them first because e-mails are still the most common means to distribute viruses through the Internet.

Related article: Canada - A Major Stimulator of Spam, Says Cisco

» SPAMfighter News - 5/5/2010