Fake and Virus Australian Taxation Office Email - "Tax Agent Report"
The email message below with the subject: "Tax Agent Report," has a malicious attachment with the name "Tax Report.Zip" that will infect your computer if you open it. The message was created and sent by cyber-criminals, NOT by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), to trick the recipients into opening the malicious attachment that contains a virus, by claiming that they can view their Tax Agent Report.
The Fake and Virus Email Message
From: Australian Taxation Office
Attachment: Tax Report.ZipSubject: Tax Agent Report
Please do not respond to this email
Tax agent report for delayed tax returns over 30 days
Please find your weekly report for the period ending 16/01/2015
What you need to do
Refer to the initial notification email with attachment we sent you with instructions on how to interpret your tax agent report.
Yours sincerely
Deputy Commissioner of Taxation
IMPORTANT
The information transmitted is for the use of the intended recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, disclosure, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the Privacy Hotline of the Australian Taxation
Office, and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
Remember the malicious attachment "Tax Report.Zip" is not a document. It is a compressed or Zip file that contains the virus file Tax Report.xls.exe. Note: The attachment name may change.
The cybercriminals behind the malicious email message aim is to trick the curious recipients into opening the malicious attachment, which will infect their computers with a virus or Trojan horse.
Once your computer has become infected with this malicious Trojan horse, the cybercriminals behind this email message will be able to access and take control of your computer remotely from anywhere around the world. They may spy on you, use your computer to commit cyber-crimes, or steal your personal and financial information.
Now, if you have already opened clicked on the link, downloaded and open the malicious file, please do a full scan of your computer with the antivirus software installed on it. The name of the attachment may change, so be careful when opening email attachments.
If you don’t have antivirus software installed on your computer, please click here for a list of free antivirus software.
Click here for a list of email attachments you should never open, regardless of where they came from.
For a list of other virus email messages, please click here.
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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.