Given the sheer volume of shipping retailers do, it’s not unusual to receive an email from a freight company regarding an errant package. The past few weeks, however, there’s been a scam email floating around, sent from what appears to be a legitimate DHL account (using their correct domain name after the @), but hold on…. Why does the language seem to flow a bit on the stilted, awkward side?
Because it’s fake. If you receive the following email (or similar), do NOT open the attachment:
Hello!
We failed to deliver the package you have sent on the 16th of July in time
because the recipient’s address is incorrect.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department.
According to DHL:
Please be advised that if you received an email suggesting that DHL is attempting to deliver a package and asking that you open the email attachment in order to affect delivery, the email is fraudulent, contains a virus, and the package does not exist. Please do not open the attachment. This is due to the Infostealer.Banker.C virus, which has been confirmed to be a real virus attached to a fraudulent email.
This virus is not coming from DHL – the authors of the malicious email virus are only using the DHL name in their message to grab user’s attention. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Normally, you can spot fakes like this by looking at the domain name on the sender’s email (then checking it online to see where it leads), but not always. In this case, a simple check of the DHL site popped up the virus warning on their home page. When in doubt, use your usual method of contact to check things out-—never rely on the links provided in a hinky sounding email since they’ll only point you where the sender wants you to go. Honest or otherwise.
Trust your gut, folks. After all, if it quacks like a duck….
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Cinda,
We just received a UPS fake email just like the one you mentioned, so be aware.