Warning issued over fraudulent e-mails with spyware attachments
Message tells recipient of plane tickets paid on sender’s credit card
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A fraudulent e-mail is spreading in Finland and other countries claiming to be from one of a number of US airlines, “confirming” the purchase of a flight ticket on the website of the airline in question, and saying that the price of the ticket has been charged on the recipient’s credit card.
The message claims that the ticket is in an attachment to the message, but the attachment actually contains malware that infects the computer if it is opened.
The Finnish credit card payment service company Luottokunta, which administers MasterCard and Visa cards used in Finland, says that the credit card accounts of recipients have not been billed, and recipients of the e-mails need take no further actions.
However, those receiving the messages are advised to delete them immediately, without opening the attachment.
The fraudulent message has been sent to very many e-mail addresses.
The customer service number of Luottokunta received hundreds of calls from recipients of the message. “Not all customers who have received the message will call us, so the distribution of the message must be far greater", says Luottokunta deputy CEO Petri Carpén.
Carpén adds that there is no danger that the recipient would face a massive credit card bill, because the sender does not have the credit card information of the recipient.
Data security expert Erkki Mustonen of F-Secure says that the ticket scam was launched in the United States about three weeks ago.
The messages are otherwise identical, but they have been sent in the names of a number of airlines.
If the attachment is opened, and the malware released, it starts to collect personal data from the user, including online banking codes, Mustonen warns.
In most cases the subject-line of the mail is "Your Flight Ticket Nxxxxxxx", and the mail purports to come from Northwest Airlines or American Airlines or any one of several dozen different carriers.
The body of the message begins:
"Thank you for using our new service 'Buy airplane ticket Online' on our website.
Your account has been created: Your login: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xx [your email address]
Your password: passFY61 [or similar] Your credit card has been charged for $xxx.xx."
Do NOT open the attachment. Delete the mail.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 19.8.2008 - TODAY |
 Warning issued over fraudulent e-mails with spyware attachments |
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