UPS shipment notice scam

[Browser]

I keep getting an apparently fraudulent email from "UPS Support" with the subject title "UPS shipment status ID#12584". GMail puts it into the spam folder, and I have no knowledge of any actual UPS shipment to me. This seems like it would be a tempting and effective spam (or worse) email that most people would open to read. I'd like to do the same, but don't want to take the chance of acquiring a virus. Is there any way to "quarantine" this thing to be able to open and inspect it?

[Sidney]

These are spam/scam. Why do you ant to open them?

[hillman]

I believe, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, you can look at the email in Gmail without any concern. Just do NOT click any links. I've gotten similar emails in the past, and a lot of companies have reporting lines you can use. They probably can't do anything with the information, but you can forward the email to them.
Here is UPS's relevant webpage:
http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resour ... gnize.html

And here is the appropriate email address:
fraud@ups.com

Good catch and way to be careful!

[FabLab]

I keep getting an apparently fraudulent email from "UPS Support" with the subject title "UPS shipment status ID#12584". GMail puts it into the spam folder, and I have no knowledge of any actual UPS shipment to me. This seems like it would be a tempting and effective spam (or worse) email that most people would open to read. I'd like to do the same, but don't want to take the chance of acquiring a virus. Is there any way to "quarantine" this thing to be able to open and inspect it?

I get these as well, they, along with the messages from some nice lady named Julia who is only trying to be super friendly, all go to the spam folder for quick deletion

[Sidney]

I keep getting an apparently fraudulent email from "UPS Support" with the subject title "UPS shipment status ID#12584". GMail puts it into the spam folder, and I have no knowledge of any actual UPS shipment to me. This seems like it would be a tempting and effective spam (or worse) email that most people would open to read. I'd like to do the same, but don't want to take the chance of acquiring a virus. Is there any way to "quarantine" this thing to be able to open and inspect it?

I get these as well, they, along with the messages from some nice lady named Julia who is only trying to be super friendly, all go to the spam folder for quick deletion

I get these too. Julia must be very busy. I also get a notice that "a background check was ran on you ..."

[BHawks87]

As long as you don't click any links or install/download anything or send them your credit card info I believe you should be safe.

I like to check my spam folder every once in awhile to see what's in there. In fact I won't have to work anymore in a few months because of it. It turns out a Nigerian Prince has contacted me and needs my help. He is going to reward me with millions of dollars for it. How about that!

[nisiprius]

There are no absolutes. In the past, in a more innocent age, in order to help merchants automate stuff, it was pretty common for email clients to a) automatically open emails for you, b) to automatically render any HTML the emails contained, c) including Javascript. It's an arms race. Far too many things, like PDFs, that ought to be passive visual views, have been gussied up to include the possibility of executable code, usually in support of e-commerce.

One would like to believe that you can't be infected unless you click on a link. It's an arms race. It will by-and-large be true, until then some clever virus writer figures out a way to exploit some quirk that makes your email reader execute code. Then it's not true any more. Then the email client writers figure it out and block that exploit and it's true again... for a while.

Yes, it is probably safer to read email through a web-based client, e.g. at gmail.

I do peek at emails. Sometimes I hover over a link to verify my suspicion, that the link goes to some weird URL and not to where I'd have expected. (Shrug) But neither of these practices is safe.

The bad guys are awfully good at social engineering, too. Yes, I have been tricked into clicking on things that weren't what I thought they would be. All these darned automatic updates. Something comes along and says "click here to update your virus definitions" and having done it twenty times before, I don't notice that something looks just a little bit "off" about this one...

[BYUvol]

I keep getting an apparently fraudulent email from "UPS Support" with the subject title "UPS shipment status ID#12584". GMail puts it into the spam folder, and I have no knowledge of any actual UPS shipment to me. This seems like it would be a tempting and effective spam (or worse) email that most people would open to read. I'd like to do the same, but don't want to take the chance of acquiring a virus. Is there any way to "quarantine" this thing to be able to open and inspect it?

Whenever I get a new computer, the first things I do are download "Ghostery", "Adblock Plus", "NoScript", and "Lastpass" for the browser I use. If you have NoScript, it will be safe to view the body of the e-mail as text only (Gmail's default for Spam folder).

Even hovering over links as Nisi mentioned can be dangerous without NoScript, because those with nefarious intents can use an onHover element to hijack a cookie for a session fixation attack or other random goodness. Definitely don't want to ever open an attachment you are unsure of, regardless of extension.

[leonard]

I keep getting an apparently fraudulent email from "UPS Support" with the subject title "UPS shipment status ID#12584". GMail puts it into the spam folder, and I have no knowledge of any actual UPS shipment to me. This seems like it would be a tempting and effective spam (or worse) email that most people would open to read. I'd like to do the same, but don't want to take the chance of acquiring a virus. Is there any way to "quarantine" this thing to be able to open and inspect it?

Get over your curiosity.

If you didn't order anything, there is absolutely no reason what so ever for you to "inspect" this email. The spammers bank on this level of curiosity. Just move on.

[Browser]

I should have mentioned that I use Windows Live Mail 2011 as my email client - I'm not using web based gmail.

[VictoriaF]

I get these as well, they, along with the messages from some nice lady named Julia who is only trying to be super friendly, all go to the spam folder for quick deletion

I get these too. Julia must be very busy.

On a few occasions a nice lady named Victoria offered me her companionship. Perhaps, "Victoria and Victoria" is the next step after "Julie and Julia."

Victoria

[kaneohe]

One would like to believe that you can't be infected unless you click on a link. It's an arms race. It will by-and-large be true, until then some clever virus writer figures out a way to exploit some quirk that makes your email reader execute code. Then it's not true any more. Then the email client writers figure it out and block that exploit and it's true again... for a while.

Yes, it is probably safer to read email through a web-based client, e.g. at gmail.

I do peek at emails. Sometimes I hover over a link to verify my suspicion, that the link goes to some weird URL and not to where I'd have expected. (Shrug) But neither of these practices is safe.

ok, for you technical gurus................if there is some bad thing in the e-mail (whether it appears when you open the e-mail or click a link), is this something that affects the computer you're using? or your e-mail account (say yahoo or hotmail)? When I get curious, I've been leaving it alone at home and then peeking (just at e-mail, not link) at the library computer(yeah, nice guy, I know.......I just know that their people and machines are better equipped to deal w/ stuff than me). Does this put my e-mail account at risk also?

[roymeo]

The answer is no.

[lucky3]

This is one of many "officially looking " scams that circulate the internet.....you have a delete button for a reason, use it without opening up the message.

Lucky3

[SurfCityBill]

I was going to respond but I have to go. My grandson is in England and was just in an accident and has no money for medical bills, hotels, or a way to get home. He says he's desperate. I have to wire him $2000 right away. I'll be right back. Wait a minute. I don't have a grandson.