Alerts

October 31, 2007
Please be advised there is a spoof email circulating that gives the appearance that it is from the FTC. It contains a virus that installs a key logger onto your computer.

A warning about the email has been posted on the FTC home page: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/10/bogus.shtm

Part of the FTC warning follows:
"The spoof email includes a phony sender’s address, making it appear the email is from “frauddep@ftc.gov” and also spoofs the return-path and reply-to fields to hide the email’s true origin. While the email includes the FTC seal, it has grammatical errors, misspellings, and incorrect syntax. Recipients should forward the email to spam@uce.gov and then delete it. Emails sent to that address are kept in the FTC’s spam database to assist with investigations.

Simply opening the email does not appear to cause harm. However, it is likely that anyone who has opened the email’s attachment or clicked on the links has downloaded the virus on their computer, and should run an anti-virus program. The virus appears to install a “key logger” that could potentially grab passwords and account numbers."