This email, which purports to be from “FedEx.com Online Services”, supposedly supplies information about an order that is about to be delivered to you.
The email, which features the FedEx logo, prompts you to click a link to find out the shipping status of your order via your “special tracking number”.
However, the email is not from FedEx and clicking the link does not give details about a shipment as claimed.
Instead, clicking the link can open a fraudulent website that harbours malware. The delivery of the malware apparently depends on the device and operating system that you are using to access the scam website. If your device is not vulnerable to the malware, you may be automatically redirected to the genuine FedEx website.
Otherwise, you may be prompted to download a “shipping status” document that contains the malware.
Online criminals have long used fake FedEx delivery notification emails to distribute malware. Be wary of any unsolicited email that claims to be from FedEx and urges you to click a link or open an attachment to print out a shipping label or get information about an order.
If you receive such a message, do not click any links or open any attachments that it contains. Some of these FedEx emails are quite sophisticated and may appear legitimate. Others, like this one, are more easily identified as fraudulent because of their poor spelling and grammar.
An example of the malware email:
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
