Bogus FedEx ‘Shipping Status’ Email Points to Malware
The original site is no longer online; links go to the Internet Archive copy.
What the fact-checkers found
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.
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