Virus spotting 101

Dear Congressman,

I received the following email at work today.

-----Original Message-----
From: Customer Support
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:17 AM
To:

Subject: payment request from "American Reprographics Company"


We recorded a payment request from "American Reprographics Company" to enable the charge of $4085.12 on your account.


The payment is pending for the moment.


If you made this transaction or if you just authorize this payment, please ignore or remove this email message. The transaction will be shown on your monthly statement as "American Reprographics Company".


If you didn't make this payment and would like to decline it, please download and install the transaction inspector module (attached to this letter).



Lets break this down, shall we?

1. "Customer Support"? This looks like a payment request. Doesn't seem right to be using technical support's favorite title when you are trying to collect a debt. Maybe change that to "Customer Service", since (as George Carlin would have phrased it) you are attempting to "service the customer".

2. No name in the To: field. As a customer, do I not mean enough to you to merit a personalized greeting? Am I just another wallet to be raided?

3. A payment request from American Repographics Company? Pretty generic stuff so far. Nice choice for a spam letter, as this is a pretty large company with offices from Miami to Seattle.

4. Pretty poorly worded opening sentence, as they are trying to let you know that "Customer Support" is omnipresent and can, at any time, charge your account for $4,805.12 for a billing that has no invoice number, no invoice date, or description of services. Now logically, if these guys could dip into your account for $4,805.12 without prior approval and actually keep the money, then they wouldn't be sending you this poorly worded email now, would they?

5. Ah... the punch line... requiring action on your part to stop them from "$4085.12ing" you to death. For your convenience and since you trust "Customer Support" so much, you simply have to open the "transaction inspector module" that is attached to the email and this mystery billing will be stricken from their books and all correspondences will cease.

The sad part is that there is a percentage of the population who is going to fall for this guise, click on the attachment to the "letter", and unleash a virus on their computer network so lethal that Bill Gates will instantaneously choke to death on a ham sandwich in his kitchen once it is installed.

It is the wicked taking advantage of the ignorant.

If for no other reason, this is why you want your kids to pay attention in school....