A scam from the "USPS Delivery Problem NR295008" that I experienced.

[CTyankee]

My email message had the insignia and the words "United States Postal Service" at the top of the message.

"Unfortunately we failed to deliver the postal package you sent on September 19 because because the recipient's address is erroneous.

Please print out the shipment label attached
United States Postal Service"

I printed out the message and took it to my local PO. The postal worker said she would research it and get back to me. I left my phone number on a copy of the printout.

I had not opened the attachment.

Today I went back as I hadn't heard from the PO. It turns out another customer got the same message. It is a scam and you shouldn't open the email.

Because I had just sent a package from the PO before I left to go on a trip that coincided with this message, I assumed it was the real mccoy.

Don't fall for this one...

[Edweird]

1. The post office has tracking numbers available. I use them when I mail.

No issues with spam/scam/phishing.

I don't mail much. I only recently mailed in my tax returns - I used to hand them in at the local office. Very convenient and secure. I pay my bills online or in person.

[notesdev]

2. is common spam

I got a whole rash of them about a year or two ago. They come labeled not only as USPS but also as FedEx and DHL, IIRC.

[no limit]

3. Really? You sure it's a scam?

[cbdo2007]

4. Did you actually send a package on September 19?

Did you give them your email address when/if you did so?

[CTyankee]

11. I actually sent a package the Friday earlier, the 17th. It was a return of some

clothes I had bought online and contained a return label. The label looked a little funny to me but I was in a hurry and just attached it and dropped it off at the PO.

I don't remember getting an email confirmation of receipt of the item...which I usually do. But I was out of town and when I got back I had a raft of emails in my box.

No, I didn't give them my email address and I wondered about that myself...don't know why I didn't figure this one out on my own or check with the clothing company...stupid of me, really...

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. So, what is the "scam"?

[pipi_k]

6. That's what I'm wondering too...

Scams usually exist to get something from someone else.

Doesn't look like anyone lost money, information, or property from this...

[CTyankee]

9. Sorry, wrong term for me to use...just a scam to get you to open it...

[petronius]

7. Probably the attachment, which the OP avoided opening

Not so much a scam as a trojan horse attempt, I'd guess...

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Aha! Looks like a virus, indeed.

Google brought up virus reports.

UPS has issued a warning about a new computer virus circulating as an attachment to emails purporting to originate from the “UPS Packet Service.” The warning is authentic. The virus is real.

The bogus messages, titled “UPS Delivery Failure” or “Your Tracking #,” etc., claim a parcel sent by the user was undeliverable due to an incorrect mailing address. The user is instructed to open an attachment containing a copy of the invoice. The attachment actually contains a virus which may infect the user’s computer.

Long discussion of the virus here:

http://www.computersecurityarticles.info/security/emails-with-the-subject-%E2%80%9Cups-invoice-nr9094991%E2%80%B3-and-%E2%80%9Cdelivery-problem-nr2204780%E2%80%B3-contains-trojan/

[hobbit709]

10. Why would the PO have my email in the first place.

And the email address I use for business purposes isn't used for anything else.

[CTyankee]

12. I did ask myself that question...but I'm chagrinned to say that I didn't think any

further than that...I so rarely get these kinds of emails and the ones I get are so obviously fake that I just delete them...I hope the PO puts up a notice to its customers so there won't be any others duped...

[Heywood J]

13. If it's an attachment you didn't solicit and weren't informed about before it came,

odds are something like 99% that it's a virus, trojan, worm, or other nasty. Reputable places will instruct you to go to their website (which you can type in by hand, based on an address you know to be correct), call a telephone number that you can verify, or visit an office.

After all, if you had delivered a package to the post office, what would they expect you to put the "shipment label" on?