USPS Email Virus
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
(updated)
"USPS Email Virus" removal guide
What is "USPS Email Virus"?
Cyber criminals proliferate the "USPS Email Virus" scam by sending a number of identical emails to many people. They use this spam campaign to distribute the Hancitor Trojan. Their main goal is to trick people (email recipients) into opening the presented attachment and infecting computers with the aforementioned malicious program. We strongly recommend that you leave the attachment unopened and ignore this email.
Scammers present the "USPS Email Virus" scam as a message from USPS, a postal service company. They use well-known brands (company names) to make these email messages seem legitimate. In fact, these companies have nothing to do with these scams. This particular email is presented as a notification about a failed delivery attempt. Scammers claim that an attempt to deliver a package was unsuccessful, since no one was present at the shipping address. To reschedule the delivery, recipients are encouraged to visit the nearest USPS branch and provide the printed shipping invoice that can be downloaded by clicking the "Get Invoice Here" button. They urge recipients to do this within 48 hours, otherwise the package will be returned to the sender. The "Get Invoice Here" button leads to a malicious Microsoft Office Excel file that infect computers with the Hancitor Trojan malicious program. This is a trojan-type computer infection that causes chain infections. Once installed, it infects computers with even more malicious programs. Note that programs such as Hancitor Trojan also install computer infections that steal personal, private (sensitive) details. Generally, people who open attachments presented by "USPS Email Virus" often experience various privacy issues, financial/data loss and other problems. Therefore, we advise you to ignore these emails and, more importantly, do not open the included attachments (or web links).
| Name | USPS invoice virus |
| Threat Type | Trojan, Password stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware |
| Symptoms | Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate victim's computer and remain silent thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine. |
| Distribution methods | Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software cracks. |
| Damage | Stolen banking information, passwords, identity theft, victim's computer added to a botnet. |
| Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Malwarebytes. |
"USPS Email Virus" is similar to other spam campaigns of this type such as "Royal Bank Of Canada Email Virus", "Unicredit Bank Email Virus", and "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account". Typically, cyber criminals use these emails to proliferate high-risk viruses such as the Hancitor Trojan, or other infections like Adwind, Pony, FormBook, and many others. In all cases, they proliferate infections that help cyber criminals to generate revenue and cause victims financial loss and other serious problems.
How did "USPS Email Virus" infect my computer?
In this case, the attachment presented by the "USPS Email Virus" scam is a MS Office Excel file. To download and install the Hancitor Trojan malicious program, this document must first be opened. If opened with MS Office 2010 or later, it will request permission to enable macros commands (to enable the content). Enabling these commands causes computer infections. Different scammers might use different files or documents, however, opening them leads to installation of malware and other infections.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Be careful when opening emails received from unknown or suspicious addresses. If one of these emails contains an attachment or web link, do not open it. Emails that are used to proliferate computer infections are usually irrelevant and presented as legitimate, important, official, and so on. To avoid having malicious programs installed, download software via official websites and using direct links. Various other sources such as third party downloaders (or installers), Peer-to-Peer networks (torrent clients, eMule and other), dubious websites and other similar channels should not be used. The same applies to software cracking tools: these are not legal and can cause computer infections. Anti-spyware and anti-virus software can keep computers safe from these threats, so have these tools installed and enabled. If you have already opened a "USPS Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Malwarebytes for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "USPS Email Virus" email message:
Subject: USPS Delivery Unsuccessful Attempt Notification
Hi,
Package delivery unsuccessful attempt notice on February 6th, 2019 , 09:15 AM.
The shipping attempt was unsuccessful because nobody was present at the shipping address, so this notice has been sent automatically. You can arrange redelivery by visiting the closest United States Postal Service with the printed shipping invoice specified below. If the package is NOT scheduled for redelivery within 48 hours, it is going to be returned to the sender.
Get Invoice Here
To find out a lot more about Shipping and delivery, please visit the Informed Delivery Guidelines .
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It is an automatic email do not reply to this email. This note is for the specified individual only and may contain private or private data. If perhaps you have obtained it by mistake, please erase. Any use of the letter by you is prohibited.
Malicious attachment distributed via "USPS Email Virus" spam campaign:
Instant automatic malware removal:
Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced computer skills. Malwarebytes is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Malwarebytes
By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Malwarebytes. 14 days free trial available.
Quick menu:
- What is "USPS Email Virus"?
- STEP 1. Manual removal of Hancitor malware.
- STEP 2. Check if your computer is clean.
How to remove malware manually?
Manual malware removal is a complicated task - usually it is best to allow antivirus or anti-malware programs to do this automatically. To remove this malware we recommend using Malwarebytes for Windows. If you wish to remove malware manually, the first step is to identify the name of the malware that you are trying to remove. Here is an example of a suspicious program running on a user's computer:
If you checked the list of programs running on your computer, for example, using task manager, and identified a program that looks suspicious, you should continue with these steps:
Download a program called Autoruns. This program shows auto-start applications, Registry, and file system locations:
Restart your computer into Safe Mode:
Windows XP and Windows 7 users: Start your computer in Safe Mode. Click Start, click Shut Down, click Restart, click OK. During your computer start process, press the F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until you see the Windows Advanced Option menu, and then select Safe Mode with Networking from the list.
Video showing how to start Windows 7 in "Safe Mode with Networking":
Windows 8 users: Start Windows 8 is Safe Mode with Networking - Go to Windows 8 Start Screen, type Advanced, in the search results select Settings. Click Advanced startup options, in the opened "General PC Settings" window, select Advanced startup. Click the "Restart now" button. Your computer will now restart into the "Advanced Startup options menu". Click the "Troubleshoot" button, and then click the "Advanced options" button. In the advanced option screen, click "Startup settings". Click the "Restart" button. Your PC will restart into the Startup Settings screen. Press F5 to boot in Safe Mode with Networking.
Video showing how to start Windows 8 in "Safe Mode with Networking":
Windows 10 users: Click the Windows logo and select the Power icon. In the opened menu click "Restart" while holding "Shift" button on your keyboard. In the "choose an option" window click on the "Troubleshoot", next select "Advanced options". In the advanced options menu select "Startup Settings" and click on the "Restart" button. In the following window you should click the "F5" button on your keyboard. This will restart your operating system in safe mode with networking.
Video showing how to start Windows 10 in "Safe Mode with Networking":
Extract the downloaded archive and run the Autoruns.exe file.
In the Autoruns application, click "Options" at the top and uncheck the "Hide Empty Locations" and "Hide Windows Entries" options. After this procedure, click the "Refresh" icon.
Check the list provided by the Autoruns application and locate the malware file that you want to eliminate.
You should write down its full path and name. Note that some malware hides process names under legitimate Windows process names. At this stage, it is very important to avoid removing system files. After you locate the suspicious program you wish to remove, right click your mouse over its name and choose "Delete".
After removing the malware through the Autoruns application (this ensures that the malware will not run automatically on the next system startup), you should search for the malware name on your computer. Be sure to enable hidden files and folders before proceeding. If you find the filename of the malware, be sure to remove it.
Reboot your computer in normal mode. Following these steps should remove any malware from your computer. Note that manual threat removal requires advanced computer skills. If you do not have these skills, leave malware removal to antivirus and anti-malware programs. These steps might not work with advanced malware infections. As always it is best to prevent infection than try to remove malware later. To keep your computer safe, install the latest operating system updates and use antivirus software.
To be sure your computer is free of malware infections, we recommend scanning it with Malwarebytes for Windows.
Outstanding!