OHIO — Some postal customers are receiving bogus e-mails about a package delivery or online postage charges. The e-mails contain a link or attachment that, when opened, installs a malicious virus that can steal personal information from your PC.

The e-mails claim to be from the U.S. Postal Service and contain fraudulent information about an attempted or intercepted package delivery or online postage charges. You are instructed to click on a link or open an attachment.

But Postal Inspectors warn: Do not click on the link or open the attachment! Like most viruses sent by e-mail, clicking on the link or opening the attachment will activate a virus that can steal information—such as your user name, password, and financial account information.

What to do? Simply delete the message without taking any further action. The Postal Inspection
Service is working hard to resolve the issue and shut down the malicious program. If you have questions about a delivery or wish to report spam, please call 1-800-ASK-USPS or email spam@uspis.gov.

Corporate Information Security Officer Chuck McGann offers these tips on spotting bogus emails:

• The text contains poor grammar or spelling errors.
• The text states immediate action must be taken or customer could face dire consequences.
• The email requests personal information under the guise of re-confirming information.
• The text from an “automated message system” states “Click on this link for details.”

Customers with questions about a delivery by the Postal Service should call 800-ASK-USPS.
For more information on similar scams and schemes, log on to https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov.

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For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world ’ s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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