Fake New York Uniform Traffic Ticket Emails Spread Malware

Did you receive an email from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles claiming that you’ve been slapped with a uniform traffic ticket?

Don’t bother opening it.

In their latest scheme, internet scammers are spamming folks with emails titled, “UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET” that demands the recipient to open & complete the attached form and send it in.

Although the identification number in the subject line may change from time to time (my copy had “ID: 84” in the subject while the body had an ID of 445607), the ultimate goal to scare people into opening the attached file to infect their PC with malware remains the same.

The body of the email reads:

New York State — Department of Motor Vehicles
UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET (ID: 445607),

POLICE AGENCY
NEW YORK STATE POLICE
Local Police Code 804

THE PERSON DESCRIBED ABOVE IS CHARGED AS FOLLOWS

Time: 7:25 AM
Date of Offense: 07/02/2011
IN VIOLATION OF NYS V AND T LAW

5 Description of Violation
SPEED OVER 55 ZONE

TO PLEAD, PRINT OUT THE ENCLOSED TICKET AND SEND IT TO TOWN COURT, CHATAM HALL., PO BOX 117

Attached is a file named, “Uniform traffic ticket.zip”, which supposedly is what you’re supposed to download, complete and return to the enclosed address.

A more likely scenario is that the file is actually housing malware, previously identified as Mal/ChepVil-A (aka Trojan-Downloader.Win32.FraudLoad.zfji), that’s just itching to get on your computer to download more malicious files & go to town on your computer security.

The [real] New York State Police aren't turning a blind eye to this scam and have issued a warning for those who reside in the area to make sure they don’t fall for it. For the rest of us, I’m sure knowing that we weren’t in the NY area around the time the traffic ticket was “issued” is enough to avoid falling for it.

If not, then the broken English, tacky colors, odd sender address [infosogk@nypolce.com] & multiple recipients should definitely convince you.

UPDATE 10/13/11:

Since this was posted, I've received TWO more copies of this spam email in my inbox. Please do not open these emails as they contain malware.

Be sure to share this article with your family and friends to make sure they don't open the attached files.

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