Another email issue-this time DHL

Hi,

I got an email this morning from dhl apparently which told me to open an attacment where I can print off a certificate to take it to the post office and collect my parcel.

I very nearly did as I am expecting a parcel, but caution prevailed and I contacted dhl directly who replied thus
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Dear Customer

Thank you for your enquiry.
You can always discuss your concerns with Customer Services on 0844 248 0844 (local rate).
We have recently received a number of enquiries, of which yours is an example, relating to emails sent advising customers there is an error in their address, and requesting customers to open an attachment to print a label. The attachment contains an executable file which may be a virus or other kind of malware.

Per policy, DHL does not send emails to it's customers unless there is existing investigation work underway for them already. Furthermore, if your email advises you to collect a parcel at The Post Office, please note that DHL is not associated with Royal Mail in any way, and does not make use of any high street post offices.

Please note that the only known numbers used by DHL to track parcels look like those below :

1234567890 (10 digits, all numbers, no spaces) (some of the phishing scam emails give out a ten digit number, but please be advised this is fraudulent)
012345678910 (12 digits, all numbers – no dots or spaces)
JJD0002234567891011
0034567898765432101 (20 digits, all numbers)
849012345678987 (15 digits, all numbers)
ABC-DE-1234567 (DHL Global Forwarding)

Here is a list of email addresses known to be in bogus use. Emails sent from these addresses are fraudulent :

@dhl-usa.com (any address suffixed with this)
@dhl.co.uk (DHL does not use a co.uk suffix)
company@dhl.com
customer@dhl.com
courier@dhl.com
office@dhl.com
package@dhl.com
parcel@dhl.com
services@dhl.com

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Considering the amount of us that ebay stuff it is very unnerving.

 

Well spotted and many thanks for the warning
robert

 

Thanks Claire - received something similar from DHL a couple of weeks ago - given that I had just received a package from DHL that I was expecting, I was suspicious right away - but had the package not arrived, I likely would've opened it!

 

A general warning about this sort of thing.
A company who have a legitimate reason to get in touch will normally know your name. Anything addressed to 'dear customer' (or even worse 'valued customer') should be treated as automatically suspect.
Similarly genuine companies don't tend to make you open an attachment to get the message.
Other clues are bad spelling and grammar (seriously!).

Ask if you have any questions - either a PM or in the computer questions board

Steve