Suspicious E-mail

[Maurice]

Twice lately I have received e-mails suppsedly from my ISP, saying something like;-

"W.H.Smithnet support.
It has been noticed that you have been sending a large amount of xxxxxx e-mails in the last month/week[?] your computer may have been infected with a new virus" etc.,

There is more, but I can't recall, the x's represent a word they used, like "unwarranted" [but it wasn't that,] I promptly deleted it.

It just didn't look right, there was an attachment, I didn't open it, have you knowledge of these messages, & do you think they are spoof, & introducing viruses? one thing that alerted me was that although my original ISP was, & still is, they seconded to Breathe, which now furnish a support facility.

If I get another, will it be safe to cut & paste it to TS?

Maurice

 

[SNGX1275]

Call them up, see if they have sent you an email like that, they should know whether they sent it to you or if its a spoof.

 

[Maurice]

Thanks again, good of you to help with this, & the extra connection symbol.

 

[MrGaribaldi]

I don't think it's a fake, but I wouldn't open the attachment...

If it is a genuine "you have a virus" message, it should tell you what kind of virus it is, and give you links to respectable anti-virus vendors where you can download a fix.
Then you could download a program meant to remove the virus from Symantec or similar, and thus be sure that you will not get infected by any "smart" virus.

If it, on the other hand, only says "run attachment to fix", then I'd be highly suspicious of it (and do as SNGX said)...


The reason I say this is that I got a couple of similar emails at work.
(something along the lines of)

You have been infected with a virus and are sending out large amounts of data. Please download a program to fix it from one of the following locations
....
If you have not fixed the problem within a short time, we will terminate your internet access until you prove to us the problem is solved.

 

[Maurice]

Thanks, by the way, think it's neat, the way you've linked your avatar & "name".
Yes, I've done what SNGX suggested, & sent a support request to my ISP, through Breathe, showing them the e-mail I received, I should get a response in a few days, & will cut & paste it to you, if it's a fake, alerting members, your quote looks eerily familiar!

They have improved their support contact, I can access it on screen there & then, & send a message, by clicking on "my account" on the pop-up connection manager, no messing about phoning, etc., do other ISP's have this facility?, I guess they have similar.

Maurice:grinthumb

 

[Maurice]

This is the reply received today from Breathe Support, it supports my opinion that the e-mail contained a virus, what are your views as to warning people of this?, myself, I will send a composite e-mail to those in my address book.

Maurice

----------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. COLE,

RE: Support Request #337325: "Customer Request > Technical"

Thank you for your mail.The mail recieved at your end seems to be a virus.Most of these mails are sent by spammers over the internet.If you had any attachment in the mail and had opened it by any chance kindly run an antivirus check on your computer to avoid any possible virus threat.We thank you for the information provided about the mail.

If you wish to add any information regarding this request, please visit the "Support Centre" section of "my account" at:
https://secure.vispconnect.com/myaccount/?visp_code=visp0024

Please don't hesitate to contact us regarding this issue on 0906 300 1199*, quoting the above ticket reference.
Please do not reply to this e-mail as it was sent from a non-monitored mailbox.

Kind regards,

breathe Support

* Calls are charged at 50p per minute. Maximum call duration 20 minutes.

 

[Maurice]

I think I'm alright using this thread, [very cautious now] it is connected, as you will see;
A few days ago, a friend told me that he had the My Doom 'O' virus, in spite of a warning I had sent him amongst others [see my previous posts in this thread] I asked him what he did, he said that he did delete it, but it turned out that he accidently deleted another e-mail that he wanted to keep, went to "Deleted Items", & promptly got the virus.
He did not open the attachment whilst it was on the In Box page, so why did he get the virus?, he too has XP Home.
The My Doom 'O', seems innocuous enough, I got it a while back, nothing detected it, & AVG said "cannot move to vault", someone suggested that it was probably a spoof virus, [ye god's, some peoples mentality!!] nontheless, it COULD have been a real stinker.

Maurice

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hiya Maurice been away for a while but I`m back now. The golden rule is if you receive any e-mails especialy with attatchments, if you don`t know whome they are from just delete them. Kind Regards Howard :grinthumb

 

[StormBringer]

Actually, it is just as dangerous, if not more so, to open attachments from people you do know. One of the first things a virii these days do when they get into a system is go for the address book and send a copy of itself to everyone in there.

I'd wager that around 95% of the viruses blocked from my email were sent to me by people I know when they get infected.

 

[SNGX1275]

Just to add to howard and Storm's posts, basically if you aren't expecting an attachment you should not open it.
Now there are some exceptions, but generally if you aren't expecting it don't open.

 

[Maurice]

Yes, I realise all that stuff about e-mails from people you know, I got a virus, because the sender's address was filched from my address book, very cautious now.
The point of my last post was that he only got the virus because he went to Deleted Items before he finally deleted that particular suspicious e-mail, I don't do that now, having done it once, & got infected like my friend did, my query was how was the virus activated if the attachment was not opened at the in-box?

Maurice

 

[me(who else?)]

There shouldn't be any risk relating to deleting, or even viewing an email (unless it uses one of those spammer images), as long as you don't open the attachment. On another note, unless the attachment is an .exe, .bat, .ini, etc. type of executable, it shouldn't be a threat. Programs like Office and Flash have safegaurds to prevent files from accessing the Hard-Drive, so those kind of files are usually safe (unless you do something stupid, like enable Macros). Of course, as long as you are properly patched, you shouldn't have to worry about images.

 

[Maurice]

Me,[who else] ;- This still doesn't explain that it DID "spring" the virus, just because it was finally deleted at the Deleted Items site, whereas it wouldn't have, had it been done remotely from the In Box [I use Outlook Express]

 

[me(who else?)]

I just said, even if you view the email, unless you open the attachment it won't do anything :unch: He may have got a trojan, but it wasn't from that email. Lots of times viruses seemingly appear from nowhere.

 

[Maurice]

Thanks again, me[who else?] it really didn't dawn on me, that the two weren't connected, & as to a virus popping up, as you say, "from nowhere", I didn't know that could happen without me knowing, I have a good AV.
I accept that fact, now you have told me.

Maurice :grinthumb