Expert: DebiN - 11/11/2009

Question
Debi,
I'm pretty confused and a bit concerned. I received an email from an AllTell employee at my job. Attached was a zip file that could only be opened with a password which was supposed t be the last 4 of my fax number. There are several puzzling things about this. First of all I have NEVER been an AllTell customer. I only know one person who is. I don't even HAVE a fax machine let alone 4 last numbers so I couldn't even open the file (which could not be virus scanned because it was a zip file). The message was actually sent to 2 different email addresses, one of which was not even close to mine. I have never given out my email address to AllTell so I don't even know how they got it. And perhaps the most frustrating is that I work in Law Enforcement and to be getting something like this over my employer's mail is a little nerve racking to say the least.

The message did have a statement which said that if it had been sent to the wrong person to delete it and disregard. That's tough to know when I can't open the file. I called the number in the message but of course no one is there this late.

Could you please help get my blood pressure down so maybe I can get some sleep?

Thanks a bunch

Answer
I feel very confident to telling you that what you received was SPAM and was not a legitimate email from AllTel. First of all, the company Alltel is now Verizon and secondly, they would not send you an email that had a zip file attached that required a four digit password to open. This is definitely a virus or scam to get you to put in your fax number or respond in such a way that the virus opens up on your computer. You don't want to reply because that statement about being sent to the wrong person and letting them know is another way that they validate that you received the message and can continue to spam you. Immediately delete the email and I strongly recommend that you don't open any files that come in an email from someone or place that you are not familiar with. Since you work in law enforcement, they likely got a hold of the addresses someway and are sending you something that "looks" official, though I guarantee you that it isn't. Please delete the file, don't worry about anything because this is definitely not legitimate in any way. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN