Government Technology

Bogus E-mail Claims to Come From FTC


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October 29, 2007 By

A bogus e-mail is circulating that says it is from the Federal Trade Commission, referencing a "complaint" filed with the FTC against the e-mail's recipient. The e-mail includes links and an attachment that download a virus. As with any suspicious e-mail, the recipients are warned not to click on links within the e-mail and not to open any attachments.

The spoof e-mail includes a phony sender's address, making it appear the e-mail is from "frauddep@ftc.gov" and also spoofs the return-path and reply-to fields to hide the e-mail's true origin. While the e-mail includes the FTC seal, it has grammatical errors, misspellings, and incorrect syntax. Recipients should forward the e-mail to spam@uce.gov and then delete it. E-mails sent to that address are kept in the FTC's spam database to assist with investigations.

Simply opening the e-mail does not appear to cause harm. However, it is likely that anyone who has opened the e-mail'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. More information about bogus e-mails, phishing, and virus protection is available at OnGuardOnline.gov.


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