I don't know if you're the sort of person who wakes up in the morning, and the first thing you long for is a McDonalds' breakfast - but if you are, you might just be exactly what malware authors are looking for.
Researchers at SophosLabs have seen a malicious email that has been spammed out across the world in the last couple of days pretending to come from McDonalds.
The email claims that the fast-food giant is offering free breakfasts in each and every of their many thousands of restaurants around the globe. Chances are that there are many people who would love the prospect of munching on a McDonalds first thing in the morning.
Part of the email reads as follows:
McDonalds invites you to The Free Breakfast Day which will take place on 26 June, 2011, in every cafe of ours.
Free Day’s menu!
- Ranch Snack Wrap (Crispy)
- Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips
- Premium Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken
- Strawberry Triple Thick Shake
- McCafe Hot ChocolatePrint the invitation card attached to the letter and show it at the cash desk of any of our restaurants.
But beware! There is no such thing as a free lunch.. breakfast.
The attached file is, of course, malicious. Sophos detects the ZIP file as Troj/BredoZp-DV and the Invitation_Card.exe file contained within as the Troj/Bredo-HU Trojan horse.
In an attempt to fool computer users into believing the file is safe, the EXE file has a Word icon.
Don't forget - you should always be suspicious of unsolicited attachments sent to you via email!
Follow @gcluley
![Password security infomerical leaves Ellen DeGeneres in disbelief.. and it will you too [VIDEO]](http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ellen-thumb.jpg?w=75&h=75&crop=1)
![Can multiple moving cursors really hide your password from spyware and peepers? [VIDEO]](http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/cursors-thumb.jpg?w=75&h=75&crop=1)
![Hacked TV channels broadcast zombie apocalypse emergency alert [VIDEO]](http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/zombie-thumb.jpg?w=75&h=75&crop=1)
Yeah I probably wouldn't open the attachment but I might have been prone to showing up at a McDonald's on the morning of the 26th.
I'll be sure to ask the helpful employee at the cash desk of my local McDonalds cafe whether I can have a free hamburger for breakfast.
Scammers need to find people that have at least SOME grasp of the terms and idioms in the target culture. This would probably be even more successful if the wording didn't scream "SCAM SCAM SCAM." Of course, I guess we WANT our scammers stupid...
I loved the sign off. "Thank you for your credence. We really appreciate it"!!
Sort of gives the game away.
Paul It only gives the game away to fairly intelligent people. That would tend to rule out the great majority of the people who go to McDonalds.
Having just received the said email in my in-box this morning I appreciate that you've flagged it up. The 'thank you for your credence' is definitely a nice touch, with its coded way of saying intelligent people with a good knowledge of English you'll probably spot this. Thanks for posting the warning.
Thanks for the warning, it just arrived in my inbox and i google dit before opening
Just got it here in Sweden! Great with Google to get confirmation of the fake.
Blame to the crook!!
Traced the ip...it originates in sweden
I regrettably opened the file, is there a solution out there,,??
Good, up-to-date anti-virus software should be able to detect it. Contact the support department of your anti-virus vendor if you have any trouble removing the infection.
I didn't know it was a hoax and opened it up thankfully my computer protection picked it up and didn't allow it to open! I will always look up suspicious emails from now on from this website.
Sivoch You should change the next to last word in your comment from "this" to "any."
So many people out scamming these days. Mind you, McDonalds in the UK make a habit of charging their customers unreasonable fees for using their car parks. If that is not a scam, what is?