VERY IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ! (GUESTS TOO)

[Ann]

A couple of days ago, I received an email headed "Account Alert". It purported to come from "[e-mail]" . This is what it said:

Dear Valued Member,

According to our site policy you will have to confirm your account by the following link or else your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

h t t p: / / w w w . catsup.co.uk/confirm.php?email=[e-mail]

Thank you for your attention to this question. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,Catsup Security Department Assistant.

(I have added the spaces at the start of the url as I don't want it be clickable.)

This email did not come from me and the email address "[e-mail]" does not exist. Catsup does not have a Security Department Assistant, nor does the website contain any accounts such as the one described. The link it gives is to a website that has nothing to do with mine.

(If you mouse over the link in the email and then look in the tool bar at the bottom of the screen, a completely different url shows up.)

I have contacted Freeola, my ISP and passed on the details of the email and the spurious link as I feel sure there is something very unsavoury about it.

If you get an email like this, please forward it to me by email and then delete it immediately. It did not come from me.

Do not click the link.

[Chris]

Thanks Ann
I shot to my email after reading this, nothing there but good to have the warning. Aren't there some strange and unsavoury people out there

[Ann]

A friend of mine who knows about these things was able to trace the hosting service that the link was on so I wrote to the hosting service yesterday. This is part of their reply:

The issue you reported is the result of a worm that has spread across the internet. It has infected a number of machines which are sending out large numbers of emails containing a URL that points to our network, however the system in question has already been suspended since Monday afternoon.

The worm in question is documented at Symantec Security Response and should be detected by most antivirus applications:

securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[e-mail]

I don't know why the link isn't showing up in full, but if you click HERE you should get to it.


Let's hope that's the end of it, but it might be a good idea to scan your hard drives just in case the worm is lurking there!

[Daisy]

Ann, I had an e-mail from e-bay with exactly the same wording, I didn't click on the link (too scared!) but checked into e-bay a couple of days later and guess what? My account hadn't been suspended.

Trouble is the one's from the bank are becoming so good what with replicating their headings etc., that it really does make you think twice. However I haven't been locked out of my on-line bank account either.

Who on earth benefits from this sort of rubbish - does anybody know?

Marion (not suspended from anything at the moment)

[Ann]

I get them all the time too Marion. I've had a couple purporting to come from Ebay that were exceptionally good. Did you know there's a special Ebay email addie [e-mail] that you can send them to, not only to ensure that they are indeed spoofs, but also so Ebay can follow them up?

What bothered me so much about this one, was that it had the temerity to use the Catsup domain details! Presumably if others get the same email as me and report to Freeola, who host my website, that I was the sender, I could be in danger of being taken offline. I'm crossing my fingers that, as I've already reported it to Freeola myself, that won't happen.

[tabitha]

I didn't get this one but we have had the ebayone and reported itto them. I have also had the bank one and my bank were very interested in that one.

Tabitha

[Daisy]

Don't blame you one bit for being bothered about it and it's a good job that you are on the ball about these things.

Somebody like my Mum (if she could use a computer) would believe it. She had one of these letters which told her she'd won something and to call this number to claim her prize - which she did and ran up an £8 bill for one call.

I usually just delete these things but have now run off your comments on the e-bay one for future reference - thanks for the hint.

Marion

[Xinzerella]

I read somewhere that if you get an email like that, say from Paypal, and you're not sure, one way of guessing that it's a spoof is that it doesn't address you by name - just says something like "Dear Valued Customer".

[Edda]

Thanks for the warning, Ann!

[gill]

I'm about 99% positive I had one of those a week or two ago...it's probably saved in one of my 'boxes' that I stick stuff in that I haven't got time to read ( i've got a 'Catsup' box where I store all this forums stuff and details).
Think I'd best go and check my hotmail account!!!

Thankfully Neil has installed a Spyware thingummy on the pc so twice a week he does a 'Whole System scan' and I normally do a quick scan each time I use the pc before I switch it off...I just set it away and get on with other things and an larm goes when it's finished.

The pc WAS playing up a fair bit last week - perhaps that's what it was?

Really ANNOYS me though...how dare these idiots do things like this!!!! Just WHAT do they get out of it!!!!!!

Thanks for the warning Ann.

Gill

* modified to add: it's ok! I checked my hotmail account and the email was NOT the nasty virus one. It was sent on May 11th and was an Activation Key...panic over!!! Phew!!! Don't know WHAT i would do if I didn't have my internet!!!!! ;D *

[Maria]

Thanks for the warning, Ann.

I got one from Paypal recently. It was the same kind of thing.

Maria