WARNING - VIRUS EMAIL ADDRESSED TO ACCOUNTANTS

WARNING - VIRUS EMAIL ADDRESSED TO ACCOUNTANTS

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Hi

This morning my virus scanner intercepted a virus contained in a Word document attached to an e-mail purporting to be from a Julia Barnes.

DO NOT OPEN THE E-MAIL OR THE ATTACHMENT – JUST DELETE IT TO PREVENT INFECTION

The e-mail reads as follows:

Tax Return Quotation Needed

Hello
    Will you be able to offer a personal tax return quotation as i live nearby your office? I have attached my P60 for the 2013-14 tax year. Thank you in advance
Julia Barnes
07471222654”

Replies (33)

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By mumpin
20th Jun 2014 08:23

Got it too...

Looked fishy so i thought i'd check on here.

Good post!

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By User deleted
20th Jun 2014 08:26

Out of curiosity ...

... I'd probably try the phone number (using a public payphone of course)

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Replying to Wanderer:
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By CA-London
20th Jun 2014 08:36

phone number

BKD wrote:

... I'd probably try the phone number (using a public payphone of course)

 

It's an unrecognised number

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Replying to Wanderer:
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By Macey
20th Jun 2014 08:38

Julia Barnes tax email

Me too - the purported word document was viewed and says it is "deliberately blur for security reason" (sic) and you have to click to open it (no doubt when the virus is unleashed).

I've reported it to Yahoo.

 

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By Jakarmi
20th Jun 2014 09:24

Same here

Julia sent me the same thing and I had one a week earlier from someone else with the same content.

 

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By A Sukkar
20th Jun 2014 09:34

We got it to

It seams this Julia sent it to everybody, we received it today.

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Replying to Duggimon:
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By Maslins
20th Jun 2014 11:36

Getting a few quotes

A Sukkar wrote:

It seams this Julia sent it to everybody, we received it today.

She's obviously trying to get a few quotes for comparison purposes...

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Giraffe
By Luke
20th Jun 2014 09:37

Yep, me too

Although, I did click on it and thankfully didn't click on it again to unblur it as I was on my phone.  I flagged it to phone the person later though.

Thanks for the heads up, will now delete.

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By Rachael-SimplifiedAccounting
20th Jun 2014 09:47

Oh bother ..

... full virus scan now being run :-(

Had so many enquiries over the last few weeks that I didn't even consider it to be dodgy!!

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By Jekyll and Hyde
20th Jun 2014 10:14

many thanks for the heads up.
.

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By rjoconnor81
20th Jun 2014 10:41

Me too

Currently running full scan, think the virus checker caught it first though :(

 

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By Rachael-SimplifiedAccounting
20th Jun 2014 10:57

Hmmm ...

... one potential threat was stopped and removed ... phew!

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
20th Jun 2014 11:04

.

They are getting better at this. 

Got one too.

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By chris@boxwell
20th Jun 2014 11:06

I'm Spartacus :(

3 of us here received this today as well as another unconnected accounting firm we had contact with earlier today. So I checked in here to find we're not alone! No damage done here it appears.

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By gerrysims
20th Jun 2014 11:19

wow

Thanks for the warning. I think that is the closest yet. I even knew a Julia Barnes years ago !

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
20th Jun 2014 12:06

.

I should add, I am extra annoyed about this as I spent a good 10 minutes sending "her" a polite email asking for further information, an outline quote for a basic return and attached our standard T&C's and sign up procedures. 

No doubt I will now be in the "complete moron" mailing list and get deluged in this crap until the end of time. 

 

 

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By jon_griffey
20th Jun 2014 12:49

The scammers seem to be increasingly targetting accountants.

Does anyone know why exactly this is?

I suspect that they are after scamming us for our HMRC logins to enable bogus tax repayment claims to be filed. 

 

 

 

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By User deleted
20th Jun 2014 12:55

Payback benefit ...

@jon_griffey

If you can infect an accountants email and then grab/target their address book it is a worthwhile payback. Far better than looking up people one by one

Exactly the same reasoning behind accountacy programs/cloud etc. targeting accountants with their 'free use for accountant' policies - one accountant can provide many clients

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By mumpin
20th Jun 2014 13:09

Vat fraud?

Heard about one firm who got hacked.

Hacker changed bank details for all the firm's vat registered clients. Then submitted a bunch of repayment returns.

I think the firm managed to notify HMRC in the nick of time.

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
20th Jun 2014 13:23

.

@mumpin, yes if you got into it you could do VAT fraud and SA repayments, CT the lot. If you did lots of small ones chances are a big % would get paid out. 

The key I think is to ensure if someone has access to your machine they STILL cant get through the passwords onto your tax return software and onto the HMRC site.  Ie make sure they are not  lodged in the software as an auto-reminder. You can write them on the wall, but not in a file called "passwords" on your machine!

As HMRC hand over more control to accountants they are going to have to up their game on access codes to ensure bank-like security. 

 

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
20th Jun 2014 14:39

These guys really wind me up.

when your busy you could see how someone could click on these links and cause all kinds of trouble.

see below for a link to a guy who loves winding these people up:

http//www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/oct/23/emails-solicit-money-king-arawi

 

 

 

 

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By VP
20th Jun 2014 14:42

Thank you for the heads up

I received this email at 1.01am. I haven't opened the attachment yet and now i will delete and remove it completely from my emails. THANK YOU.

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By taxhound
20th Jun 2014 21:29

I had it too

She is a busy girl!

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By User deleted
21st Jun 2014 07:35

Billy No Mates

Well she didn't ask me! I feel really left out now.

Or maybe she realised that I don't ever ring clients and so I wouldn't fall for it? I think I'll hang on to that thought instead..

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By colinx
24th Jun 2014 10:43

Should be shot at dawn

I got one also, but because of the sent to "undisclosed recipients" thought it was fishy.

My IT guy ran a scan on the word document, pronounced it ok originally then spotted the attached macro and promptly deleted it.

It really annoys me that these vagabonds can waste our time (or worse) with no obvious consequences.

 

 

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By Mattlythell
24th Jun 2014 10:53

Something similar

We received an email which appeared to be from one of our clients saying “I'm having problems with attachments, click here to retrieve your documents” which turned out to be a scam. 

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By jonsa
24th Jun 2014 11:58

Another Julia here

I received this too a couple of weeks ago.

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By Tim Robinson
24th Jun 2014 13:51

Come On!

Hi

Yes, I had this too but it immediately rang alarm bells and I am always wary in the extreme of opening attachments from senders who I don't know.  So I just deleted it.  Sorry to be a smart Alec. 

Here is some sound advice from askleo

Email safety rules

So, let’s review the rules for safe email:

Keep your versions of Windows, your browser, and your email program up to date with the latest patches.Run appropriate anti-malware software to help keep your system clean.Keep your anti-malware software up to date and most importantly, allow them to keep their databases of malware information as up to date as possible as well.Never open an attachment unless you expect it, you’re positive you know what it is, and that you trust the sender.Never click on a link in an email message unless you’re positive you know where it’s going and that you trust the sender.

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By nick farrow
24th Jun 2014 13:57

sophos stopped me opening it

Sophos stopped me opening it

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By The Naked Accountant
24th Jun 2014 15:12

I got it too.  Was 50:50

I got it too.  Was 50:50 whether it was a scam or not so called the number but as the number didn't exist I then deleted the email.

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Moore Accountancy Altrincham Accountant
By smooreaccountancy
24th Jun 2014 16:10

we got it too
We know of a julia Barnes through networking so opened it and eveb tried to call them!
Better redo the virus checks! ! Duh :(

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By mpdv
25th Jun 2014 08:35

Yes, a virus it seems

If you opened the attachment and enabled the macro, run the Malwarebytes anti-malware program found on the link below and it should clean it up - worked for us! www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware

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By Gone Sailing
26th Jun 2014 15:38

Also Gemma Goodger looks odd.

Adding it here so that 'googlers' will find it.

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