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October 11th, 2011, 14:04 GMT · By Eduard Kovacs

YesAsia Does Not Spam Customers with Fake Bills

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YesAsia does not charge your credit card for something you haven't purchased
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A well-known online retailer's name is used in the latest spam campaign that's been spotted in the inboxes of potential victims, pretending to ask confirmation for an order that was never actually made.

According to Graham Cluley, the example he saw claimed that the victim purchased an external hard drive and a webcam which cost a total of almost $500 (350 EUR), a fact which could scare anyone.

The unsuspecting internauts could rush to click on the link provided in the email to see how this could be possible, but instead of receiving explanations, they end up with a zip file that contains malicious elements which take over the device.

As we see in this case, the cybercriminals registered a domain called yesasia-invoices.com just for the occasion, to make the whole thing look more legit.

Another thing that makes the scam look more real is that the messages seem to be coming from an automated service. This combined with the cleverly crafted domain could easily fool anyone.

The only way to tell that this is a hoax is to have a decent anti-virus that would tell you that the so-called detail file contains Mal/BredoZp-B and Troj/VB-FPL.

The latter operates by copying itself into a file called newegg.exe, in the Application Data folder of your computer, after which it creates a number of registry keys that make sure it will not be disposed of too easily. It then deploys a couple of proceses while making DNS requests to 1symantechantivirus.zapto.org and symantechantivirus.zapto.org.

In most cases, anyone who would see their savings being illegally drawn from their accounts would be quick to act and that's what the masterminds of this operation rely on. That you quickly open the alleged explanations, infecting your computer and giving them further access to your assets.

That's why you must make sure to proceed with caution when you receive an unsolicited email, no matter how alarming it may sound.

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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: Samsyn on 14 Oct 2011, 11:11 UTC reply to this comment

I've just received one of these spam e-mails and thankfully I didn't open anything......had another problem with somebody hacking into Vistaprint and charging stuff to my credit card so nothing is sacred anymore.


Comment #2 by: Spam Dodger on 14 Oct 2011, 16:00 UTC reply to this comment

I've just received this email and did not open the links to track my order or to check my alleged account, I just looked up YesAsia to find this useful explanation of a well thought out scam. They even knew my name as well as my email address. Can they be stopped?


Comment #3 by: nutsinheaven on 14 Oct 2011, 16:42 UTC reply to this comment

received as above: the worry would be not so much the spam/phish/malware aspect but the fact that this might arrive at a genuine yesasia.com customer inbox. this is actually quite a sophisticated psychospam


Comment #4 by: taxi on 14 Oct 2011, 16:54 UTC reply to this comment

good strory we just had a email from YesAsia.com yet another scam I think.


Comment #5 by: lucky man on 14 Oct 2011, 17:34 UTC reply to this comment

Well done for letting me know. Was very close to opening the zip file. Then found out that it was a scam. Thank you


Comment #6 by: LAJ on 14 Oct 2011, 18:32 UTC reply to this comment

Got one of these today - scared the crap out of me til I googled the title and found it was a scam. I knew I hadn't ordered $500 worth of stuff from yesasia. Like someone else posted, email had my first and last name.


Comment #7 by: Spenno on 14 Oct 2011, 20:36 UTC reply to this comment

Ditto here. Thanks to google for directing me to this site before I tried to follow the link out of curiosity!


Comment #8 by: bellstuart on 15 Oct 2011, 12:07 UTC reply to this comment

I got that email yesterday, and being sceptical I fortunately didn't open the zip file. I hadn't even heard of this supplier let alone ordered anything. My suspicions were confirmed when I was not required to login to an account to access the details.


Comment #9 by: Horandago on 15 Oct 2011, 22:22 UTC reply to this comment

Thanks for confirming this!
I clicked on the link, but I dare not download that file. Hotmail put it in my junk, but it was too convincing to simply ignore.


Comment #10 by: almostcaught on 15 Oct 2011, 23:48 UTC reply to this comment

this is worse than you think, it seems to getting the names and emails from paypal!

Comment #10.1 by: asbo on 16 Oct 2011, 11:30 GMT

hi there are paypal aware of this


Comment #11 by: asbo on 16 Oct 2011, 11:28 UTC reply to this comment

i have just received such an email but anything that comes in like that the golden rule is do not open it.

Comment #11.1 by: Daniel Son on 16 Oct 2011, 19:28 GMT

Clicked the link (like an idiot) but didn't open the zip file. Am I safe?


Comment #12 by: Eduard Kovacs on 17 Oct 2011, 07:57 UTC reply to this comment

As long as you didn't open the zip file you should be safe. However, a complete system scan can never hurt.


Comment #13 by: Richie121 on 17 Oct 2011, 08:45 UTC reply to this comment

Dam Ive received it for $500 thankfully found this website first before opening it...So will I be ok???


Comment #14 by: Dawn on 18 Oct 2011, 15:01 UTC reply to this comment

This has happened to me!! but thankfully my anitvirus warned me beforehand :)


Comment #15 by: Anibaby on 07 Nov 2011, 00:47 UTC reply to this comment

What I find interesting about the email I received (exactly the same as above), was that they could only have found my details from PayPal or eBay - a friend had used my email address when signing up to both sites, but used her own name and details, and the email I received was addressed to her. Since she hasn't used my email for anything else, that can be the only explanation.

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