Is this a Hoax Email or is it from Earthlink???

[jen-ron]

Hello user of Earthlink.net e-mail server,

Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of viruses outgoing
from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool to clean up
your computer software.

Pay attention on attached file.

Cheers,
The Earthlink.net team

[sahmsfreeb]

i would be wary.. email earthlink back.... go to their website and email them from there... do not hit reply in the email....

[nanajoanie]

I seem to recall getting this type of message in my yahoo and hotmail accounts. I just delete them.

[jaybird]

I got a VERY odd one just a few minutes ago from charter...the thing that struck me odd, and it's the same as yours, it says Cheers, at the end. I don't know too many professional companies that sign an email 'cheers.' Got me very suspicious now. I deleted the email:

From: staff@charter.net
Date: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 09:33:07 PM
To: xxxxxx@charter.net
Subject: Email account utilization warning.

Dear user of "Charter.net" mailing system,

Our main mailing server will be temporary unavaible for next two days, to continue receiving mail in these days you have to configure our free auto-forwarding service.

Please, read the attach for further details.

Cheers,
The Charter.net team http://www.charter.net

[jaybird]

Do NOT open any attachments either!

[jen-ron]

Emailing Earthlink to verify it. Was worded strangely is what caught my attention. I am also running both my antivirus's and so far not one! Lets see what they say.

[jaybird]

I'm running an antivirus as we speak. I was wary because mine was also worded strangely, and it said to download from the attach.

[jen-ron]

Just got a reply from Earthlink sayin they recieved my email and will get back with me within 24 hrs. :rolleyes:

[jaybird]

I'm going to forward mine to charter also. My sister said there is a virus going around that is in an attachment on emails from internet providers...

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

[justme23]

Originally posted by jen-ron
Hello user of Earthlink.net e-mail server,

Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of viruses outgoing
from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool to clean up
your computer software.

Pay attention on attached file.

Cheers,
The Earthlink.net team

Hubby used to work for Elink... he hasn't worked there in more than 3 years and things can change... but at the time he was there they NEVER had any antivirus tools for you to download and scan your computer w/. However alot of ISPs are now providing antivirus software in this fashion... so it could possibly be real... but when in doubt, email them back to find out.

We went back and looked at the support page (we still have our email through them) and it says all legitimate emails from them can be verified through the 'verify this webpage' link in your account... doesn't sound like they send files through emails so I would not download the attachment.

[mrsswede]

I just got the same thing from "staff@rr.com" but Norton caught it so I deleted it without opening. There's so much going around that I usually delete if I don't know who it is, but they are pretty clever in how they send all these things.
It looks to me like, so far, these are being sent to cable subscribers.
Just another good reason to keep our anti-virus updated.

[SouthOSane]

I've been getting a bunch of HOAX emails from "earthlink", all containing viruses, (alerts from security etc) I'd just delete it & be done with it & call it another hoax..anything I ever knew only scanned incomming emails, not outgoing

[jen-ron]

Well, got my email from them today. Heres what they had to say:

Thank you for contacting us about the email you received.

We apologize for the confusion. The email you received and its corresponding web site are fraudulent, and are in no way associated with EarthLink.

We were made aware of this site recently and took immediate steps to contact the host of the site, to have it removed from service.

If you receive notifications like this and are unsure of their validity please contact us before accessing the site or providing your personal information.

If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us again.


*******
EarthLink Electronic Customer Support
EarthLink, Inc.
Case ID ********


Also~ my AVG antivirus scans my outgoin email and lets the reciever know that it is virus free. :)

[jaybird]

My sister is senior vp at a huge bank here in STL. It's going around there too, disguised as an email from the bank itself:

Hello user of Usbank.com e-mail server,

Your e-mail account has been temporary disabled because of unauthorized
access.

Advanced details can be found in attached file.

In order to read the attach you have to use the following password:
82682.

The Management,
The Usbank.com team http://www.usbank.com


I ended up with a virus, ran the fix, rescanned, had another virus (beagle something) cleaned it, ran a scan and I'm clean now.

GRRRRRRRRRR.

[evrita]

It is going around bad here is some info if you are intrested

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/

[Elijah'sMommy]

Got it here too! What struck me as very odd was not only was there a misspelling, but it was addressed to an old email address not in existance for about 3 years! I used to have qwest (local phone co) dialup which was taken over by msn few years back. When they took it over, they automatically forwarded all my old email to my msn acct. Addresed from administration@qwest.net virusscan said no virus found, so I clicked the attachment which read "Dear user of "Qwest.net" mailing system,

Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of viruses outgoing
from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool to clean up
your computer software.

Pay attention on attached file.

Sincerely,
The Qwest.net team http://www.qwest.net "

and where my virus scan bar is, it said "these attachments have not been scanned for viruses. MSN blocked the following unsafe files: Message.pif" I tried to call MSN to see where I shoudl forward this to, since qwest.net is no longer inexistance, but they had me running all kinds of virus scans on my computer (All of which came up negative) and basically said they didn't know who I should forward it to.

[jen-ron]

bumpin up so everyone can use that link on the first page if they need the help.