Question about an usual email

ugs123

New Member
Thread author
Aug 12, 2014
3
Hi everyone, I have a question about an usual email that I had received nearly 4-6 months ago (I had forgotten about it, but had recently remembered it). I wanted to ask about this and see if anyone else has had a similar experience or knows anything about this.

I remember getting an email (in think it was in the junk folder) from the US department of justice. Although I can't exactly recall now, but I do think there was an attachment with the email as well. Essentially, I thought that it was strange that I had got this email and decided not to open it since it could be fake and potentially harmful to my computer. At the time, I did a quick search online and found some links discussing a US department of justice virus or something along these lines, and decided to simply delete the email without opening it.

In hindsight, I am now wondering if this virus that was discussed online is the same email that I received or if it was something different? Also, I have not received any further emails like that since that time. Does anyone know anything about this? I just found the whole thing to be weird. Thank you.
 

Malware1

Level 76
Sep 28, 2011
6,545
Do you still have the email? Could you download the attachment (don't run it!) and send me at PM ?
 

ugs123

New Member
Thread author
Aug 12, 2014
3
Hi and thank you for responding to my question. Unfortunately, I do not have the email any longer as it was deleted long ago (it is not in the deleted folder either upon checking). Does this sound like anything either of you have heard of before? There are some posts on this website (and others) discussing something similar and how to remove the associated virus. It also just doesn't seem likely that a government organization would send emails to people either.
 

Cowpipe

Level 16
Verified
Well-known
Jun 16, 2014
781
This is a scam that has been going around for many years and surfaces again from time to time as people try to distribute viruses by spam emails, playing on the founding principle of 'phishing' which is something along the lines of "Good looking lies will dazzle their eyes". (of course I just made that up), but it's really true.

So long as it looks legitimate, for example, an email which appears to come from an official body or company, whether it be the U.S Dept. Justice or Paypal or your employer or your real life best friend, the average person is more likely to click on the link or attachment than think of the consequences of doing so.

It's unlikely you'll have recieved the same virus in the mail as people have in the past, since these kind of malicious files have a very short lifespan with most malware species being extinct within weeks rather than months ;)
 
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