BBB issues cyber-attack warning

GREELEY – The Better Business Bureau of Northern Colorado and Wyoming is warning businesses of phony e-mails purporting to be from United Parcel Service and Federal Express that have infected computers with a virus.

Cyndy Winters, the office manager at CNW Siding & Window Co. in Greeley, told the BBB she spent most of an afternoon ridding her computer of the virus that arrived as an attachment to a phony UPS e-mail. The message told her a UPS package she sent was not deliverable and instructed her to open the attachment and print an invoice in order to claim the package at a UPS office. When she did, the virus shut down her computer. While she was able to correct the problem with anti-virus software, it took an afternoon to do it.

The BBB said a similar e-mail that carries a phony FedEx address is also making the rounds. The agency recommends that anyone receiving an e-mail that contains an attachment from either of the shipping companies delete it immediately. While the two companies occasionally send notification messages, they rarely include attachments.

For more information on computer security, visit www.wynco.bbb.org. To report a computer virus attack, call the BBB at 970-484-1348 or 800-564-0371.

on Facebook on LinkedIn