Fraudsters are using DHL spam to trick unsuspecting victims

(30/03/2009)

Computer users need to be on their guard following the discovery of a new large scale malicious spam campaign posing as an email from courier firm DHL.

The campaign is the second in the space of a week that masquerades as DHL, and the messages again claim that the courier company tried to deliver a parcel from you on the 14th of March, and that you need to print out the attached invoice and bring it to their office.

Computer users that fall for the scam and open dhl_n756512.zip will not see an invoice, but will actually download a malicious Trojan horse, known as Troj/Agent-JJP onto their PC giving hackers remote access. The emails all use the subject line 'DHL Tracking number' but have a randomly generated reference number.

"These emails are currently arriving so frequently in our spam traps, they're battering down like hailstones on a tin roof," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Computer users that have recently used DHL to send a parcel may see nothing wrong in opening what looks like a legitimate email and may click on the attached zip file without a second thought. By using big names, the fraudsters are attempting to trick more unsuspecting victims, and by changing the filename on each message, they're able to avoid less sophisticated spam filters. All computer users need to watch out and be careful about any unsolicited file attachment they receive, no matter who it claims to come from."

Related topics:  Virus, Worm, Email security, spyware and malware 

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