Scam of the day – September 27, 2012 – Phony AOL virus scam

by | Sep 26, 2013 | Scam of the day, Site Related

Many AOL users have been reporting the following scam email reproduced below that is appearing in their email box.  It carries a subject line of “Admin Service Solution” and it describes a virus as having been detected in the email of the person receiving the message, however it is a scam.  There is no such virus and if you click on the link contained in the email, you will end up downloading keystroke logging malware that will steal all of the information from your computer, laptop or smartphone and make you a victim of identity theft.  This is an example of the scam known as phishing where you are lured into clicking on a link that purports to connect you to something you need or trust when the truth is that it is a scam.  This scam is pretty amateurish.  The email address from which the email is sent is an address that has nothing to do with AOL security, which is a dead giveaway that it is a scam.  Also, the email does not contain the logo of AOL.  Here is a copy of the email.  DO NOT CLICK WHERE IT INDICATES LOGIN HERE.

“A QN6137 Virus has been detected in your folders. Login Here to Switch to the new Secure QN6137 anti virus 2013.

Thank you for choosing our service.

 Sincerely,
America Online”
TIP
Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.  Always consider how legitimate an email appears before you even considering responding to it.  Also check the email address from which it was sent.  It was obvious in this case that the email was sent by someone who had nothing to do with AOL.  Even if the email appears to be legitimate, never click on any link unless you have confirmed that the email is genuine.  In this case, an email or a call to AOL would have told you that it was a scam.  Finally, make sure that you have anti-virus security software and anti-malware on your computer, laptop and smartphone and that you keep these security software programs up to the date with the latest patches.