Note: The offending email is NOT sent by FedEx. It's a virus sent pretending to be from FedEx. FedEx even has a warning page on their site here: Avoid Fedex Hoax

This is what the email that I received looks like. If it's too small to read, I have the text below.

It says this.

Dear Customer,

Your parcel has arrived at the post office at November 28. Our postrider was unable to deliver the parcel to you.

To receive a parcel, please, go to the nearest our office and show this postal receipt.

GET POSTAL RECEIPT

Best Regards, The FedEx Team.

Why this is so sneaky.

I order a lot of stuff online, so it's very likely that I missed a package.

It's the holiday season so I get a lot of gifts from my readers, people that I promote, and my team.

So, I figured, maybe I missed something, even though I'd already had red flags up in my mind.

Here's what happened.

• The “Get Postal Receipt” if you hover over it shows an .html link, but it actually redirected to a .zip file which started to load.
• I knew what it was, but wanted to check it out for this blog post. When I opened the .zip file I found an .exe file.
• At that point, I permanently deleted the .zip file, by doing a “shift” + “delete” on my computer.

Please beware of emails like this. Like I said, because your business is online, we have to be EXTRA careful of anything that can harm our computers.

Red Flags that I KNEW but yet Ignored Were:

1. Email did not come from FedEx.com which was my first warning. But, it sounded like it might be a service, like aweber or infusionsoft – and I was in a hurry, which is never good when faced with a virus. I could blame the wine…  Anyway, I clicked. UG.

2. When hovering over the download link, it was not FedEx.com either.

3. There was no Unsubscribe or Contact info at the end of the email – which FedEx would have had there, if it was a legit email.

Please be safe. The holiday season can bring out the best and the worst in people.

I hope and pray that your holiday season is blessed and profitable.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. If you missed my post a few weeks ago, also read about The Skype Virus and How to Avoid It.