Analysis by: Neil Pondo

Spammers target New York, USA residents in this spam purporting to be a traffic violation ticket. The message passes itself off as an official notification from the Department of Motor Vehicles, informing the intended recipient of their most recent traffic violation. The spammed message even uses nyc.gov as the sender's domain. The received date of the message itself makes it look like the message arrived on an earlier date and has been missed by the recipient. To lure the recipient into extracting and opening the message's attachment, the body of the text explains to the recipient the need to extract and print the enclosed 'ticket' in order to plead.

While traffic tickets are usual business, traffic enforcers usually issue tickets at once when traffic violations are committed. Instructions to plead are most likely sent via regular mail and not through email. Users are warned not to open suspicious-sounding messages with even more dubious attachments, and are advised to always check with your local authorities to confirm beforehand.

 SPAM BLOCKING DATE / TIME: August 18, 2011 GMT-8
 TMASE INFO
  • ENGINE:6.8
  • PATTERN:8832