30,000 People Received Infected Emails with Infringement Claims

Almost 30,000 Internet users have received emails with allegation of copyright infringement and demands for cash settlements. The letters contained accusations of infringing the copyrighted works of DreamWorks, Paramount, EMI, and Sony. In addition to the fact that they were fake, they also had a trojan attached.

Earlier copyright holders would have to make contact with the tracked alleged copyright infringer via regular mail. If legal threats arrive with the post, this means business and has to be dealt with in an appropriate manner. However, when companies like Rightscorp appeared, demands for cash settlement started arriving via email, though some people considered it spam. It’s up to infringers whether they want to pay up on presentation of a mere email.

For example, recently there were increasing reports from German users who received cash demands for alleged copyright violation of works from Jay-Z, Bullet for My Valentine, Sepultura, Children of Bodom and many others. This is a very extensive operation – as many as 30,000 individuals were affected – but totally fake one. Drilling down into the details reveals that it was just a huge scam. The emails demand 200 to 500 euros in settlements within 2 days and point to the attached document “for details”. The attached archive in fact carried a suspected trojan, designed to spy on credit card and account information.

Security experts recommended everyone who has opened the ZIP file attachment to check their machines with a virus scanner and keep their anti-virus software updated.

The scammers included real law firms’ contact details in the emails to make them seem genuine. One of such law firms, Sasse & Partner, had to issue a statement and deny involvement in the scheme. Some of the notifications were sent under the name of their lawyer, which means that the scammers were making use of the fact that the law firm regularly sent warnings on behalf of copyright owners. However, Sasse & Partner never attach any files to their emails.

There is no information on how many people would decide to actually pay up on receipt of such an email. However, it is likely that of 30,000 a few would. Taking into account the full 500 euro rate, even several settlements will amount to a sizable amount of cash.