Internet Hoax - "Access Suspended"....???

Question

Over the past couple of days, I have received three ominous email messages along with an attachment (which of course I have not opened!) but it seems like a hoax to me.

Have any of you ever received an email like this? Is it a hoax? Does the attachment contain a virus? What do you think it is?

Here is the body of the email message:

"Dear Sir!

The Internet Service Provider Consorcium was made to protect the rights of software authors, artists. We conduct regular wiretapping on our networks, to monitor criminal acts.



We are aware of your illegal activities on the internet which were originating from



You can check the report of your activities in the past 6 months that we have attached. We strongly advise you to stop your activities regarding the illegal downloading of copyrighted material or your internet access will be suspended.


Sincerely
ISC monitoring team"

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Hoax, hoax, hoax. Delete...

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?date=2008…

Your hunch was right. First, I have never received a legitimate e-mail 3 times in as many days - unless one of my kids does it :)

There are several repositories on-line that will allow you to check on e-mails and if they are hoaxes. Just search in your favorite search engine with the subject heading or few of the key phrases.

Regards,

Joe...

Source(s):

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?date=2008…

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

thanks for the links!

Answer 2

Definitely a big time hoax. I'm sure that attachment is not something that will benefit your computer, just as you suspected.

The misspelling of Consortium is a dead giveaway to the nature of this one. Not to mention the rather informal "Dear Sir".

Anyway, I'd ignore em all the way. Nothin but trouble.

Answer 3

What I would do is contact your ISP to confront them.

It does sound like a hoax if you ask me. The company would be addressing you by your name, not just customer.