An email claiming to be from the “Fraud Department” at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to originate from the email address “frauddep@ftc.gov” and “spoofs the return-path and reply-to fields to hide the email’s true origin” says an FTC-issued warning about the email.
The October 29 warning says that opening the email seems to cause no problems, but warns that opening the attachment or clicking on links in the email may download a “key logger” virus, which could grab passwords stored on your computer.
As with many fake emails, this bogus email contains grammatical errors and misspellings, but does use the FTC’s seal in an attempt to appear legitimate.
Rather than just deleting bogus emails, you can do something about them. If you receive a spam email that you think is fraud, forward it to spam@uce.gov. The FTC stores the spam they receive and uses the messages to pursue legal action against people who send deceptive email.
The FTC, which oversees all advertising and works to prohibit unfair or deceptive ads including online and in email, offers more information about how to avoid email phishing scams.
