Strange E-Mail

[theshedman]

Hi, had strange e-mail from someone I don't know. They say they have been sent documents from my laptop and also my name and full address which they put in the e-mail. They also put an attatchment of one of the documents which I don't recognise the name of. It says they think I could have been hacked. Does anyone know how I can find out if I have been hacked or not. Cheers

[Old_Geezer]

Most likely a scam or infection attempt.

Run your own virus/malware checks on your PC, and consider changing your e-mail password. But if someone has your e-mail address it is fairly easy to spoof e-mails from it, and there's little you can do about that.

In your shoes I'd not reply nor look at the attachment. Make the account look dormant.

[CrapAtCryptics]

There are several viruses which search out your address book and perpetuate themselves by sending versions of themselves to all your contacts. Google Norton Power Tools - run the first one and the second if you still are uncertain your machine is clean - its free. Always keep your virus definitions and windows updates current. if you are running older versions of Windows ie Vista or XP strongly consider updating.

[theshedman]

Thanks for the answers. It just seemed strange that they had my full name and address including postcode. Towards the end of the e-mail they put that they were a law abiding citizen just trying to let me know that I may have been hacked.

[KARL]

It seems possible that someone (individual, company, authority) who is in possession of your details was hacked (along with any number of others) and that the information is being put to potential use by sending this sort of communication to you, hoping you will fall for it. You should under no circumstances do anything but ignore the message and, best of all, delete it entirely. Unless you have done any more than read it, your equipment should be fine and the sender will have gained absolutely nothing.

[bhg481]

I had a similar one a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Spam-and-Scams/Question1542310.html

Their aim is to get you to click on something; in my case a link, in your case a file probably containing a virus/trojan horse or similar. They will have got your details by hacking someone who has your name in their contacts list and supply you with detail that makes it look like you know and can trust them.

[Old_Geezer]

It is also just possible that it's genuine, sent by someone who doesn't realise e-mail addresses can be spoofed. But the advice doesn't change anyway.

[Peter Pedant]

I reckon if you open the doc
then it will infect you

sort of a phishing attack

and try googling the return address- and then delete

[theshedman]

Thanks for the replies. I have deleted the e-mail so hopefully that will be the end of it. Don't see what people get from trying to infect anothers PC. It's not like they are there with them and can see any problems it may cause. Just some nasty people with nothing better to do about I suppose.

[Zacs-Master]

If an email looks suspicious, check that the sender name and email address match one another.
You can also check if the email is authenticated by hovering over any links before you click on them.
If the URL of the link does not match the description of the link – it could lead you to a phishing site.