Virus alert: Credit card account statement (Visa, MC)

I noticed a few emails with the subject "Credit card account statement (Visa, MC)", and decided not to let OzEfilter delete the email, so I could check the contents.

The start of the message in the emails was the following:

Dear Valued Customer:
ID: - user name for a valid email address -

As requested, we are sending you this account statement with information on the transactions carried out with your credit card between 1/1/2008 and 8/1/2008.

The email also had an attached zip file "Statement.zip", which contained the file which appeared to be "Statement.doc". This is where the virus writers trick people into thinking it is a just a Word document. The virus writers create a very long file name filled with lots of spaces, so the real file extension of "exe" is not easily visible. The real file name is something like the following:

"Statement.doc exe"

This is similar to the "statement of fees" virus recently, which has infected a lot of people.

The Desktop anti-virus client, and the mail server anti-virus software, did not stop this email from getting through. The email address is a random user name, which is also a good indicator this is a malicious email and would be obvious to OzEfilter users.

The last couple of weeks has shown it is pretty obvious that most anti-virus software packages won't protect you from new viruses, as the anti-virus software can take days to be updated and by that time thousands of people have damaged their computers. Care with emails is vital.

A simple trick to protect you from viruses targeted at your banking facilities is not to provide your email address to your bank. I don't provide my email address to banks and I advise others to have their email address removed from their bank details. Then you know every email from a bank is most likely malicious or unwanted email.

Please take care.

- Kelvin Eldridge