Bank Of American Email Scam Spreading Dangerous Malware

Cryptowall is the latest ransomware malware to be claiming victims. Much like CryptoLocker, Cryptowall encrypts the files on a victim’s computer and demands a payment to decrypt those files. This malware is usually spread as an attachment on spam emails. A post at Spyware News details the Bank of America email scam that’s currently spreading Cryptowall.

If you’re not a Bank of America customer, it’s easy to ignore messages claiming to be from the bank about your account. Those that do have active accounts find the messages more believable, however.

Users are reporting seeing emails claiming to be from Bank of America with an attachment. The emails are from “Andrea.Talbot@bofa.com” and advises the user to open the attachment because it contains information about their account. The email contains an office phone number and cell number with an 817 area code and even includes a standard confidentiality notice at the bottom. The email appears to be legitimate except for the fact that no bank, much less on the size of Bank of America, would send confidential account information to customers this way.

The attached file is named “AccountsDocument.zip” but those that download it quickly discover that it’s malware. Specifically, it’s the Cryptowall virus that encrypts files.

For the time being, be extra cautious about opening any emails from Bank of America and don’t download any attachments. If you have questions about an email, always contact the institution named in the email directly, rather than downloading attachments or following links provided.

Unfortunately, if you’ve become infected by Cryptowall, or a similar virus, there’s often no easy way around it. If you’ve recently backed-up your system, you can restore the encrypted files after the malware has been removed. Otherwise, you may not be able to recover the encrypted files.

If your device is infected with malware of any kind, call Geek Rescue for help at 918-369-4335.

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