Attention: Fraudsters send emails containing malware in the name of a tax advisor

For example, a tax advisor, a tax office or the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) is pretended to be the sender. In these messages, the recipient is usually asked to open a file attached, which is supposedly e.g. B. is a tax assessment.

Note: The sender address as well as the content of the emails can vary. However, in many cases attempts are made to obtain taxpayers' login details and account and/or credit card information via email and/or to install viruses/Trojans on the computer.

Our check showed: There is a Trojan in the file attachment!

The email as verbatim (sic!):

“Dear customer, I am sending you the income tax notice for 2021. I assume that you prepared the 2021 income tax return yourself. I have deleted the power of attorney granted to us in the power of attorney database so that you will receive the next notification directly.”

Trojan warning: email with tax notice 
Screenshot of the fake email
Virustotal: Various antivirus software manufacturers have examined the file attachment! The result: "Trojan.HTML. Agent...."
Virustotal: Various antivirus software manufacturers have examined the file attachment! The result: “Trojan.HTML. Agent…."

Research revealed that this was an attempt at phishing or a so-called ransom Trojan

What is a Trojan?

Trojans are standalone programs (.exe) that pretend to be something other than what they really are. When you run the file, it seems like nothing is happening. But that's not true! A program is installed in the background.

The programs or internet fraudsters behind such programs now have access to your data or can also have complete control over your computer.

Please note the following information:

  • Never open attachments that you are not sure came from a trustworthy source.
  • A tax administration would never request information such as tax number, account details, credit card numbers, PIN or the answer to your security query in an email.
  • Do not click on an embedded link in an email if you have doubts that the email comes from the tax authorities.

Tip: This is how you too can detect malware!

You can also find out for yourself whether the files sent along are malware. There are websites for this, such as virustotal.com . This website lets many different antivirus programs scan suspicious files directly.

Also read:

Facebook: Apps have stolen over a million login details


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )