John Ramsey victim of malicious new e-mail virus
John Ramsey said all he did was open his e-mail, then delete.
However, the virus attached to that incoming e-mail scanned his e-mail address, got his address book, and sent solicitation e-mails, purportedly from Ramsey, to his entire e-mail address list.
Ramsey is the father of JonBenet Ramsey, who was killed in December of 1996 in Boulder. He has since moved to Michigan. No one was arrested in her death.
"I was expecting something from the airlines and thought this e-mail was it. That's why I opened it," Ramsey told 9Wants to Know.
Just the simple act of opening the e-mail resulted in the theft of his e-mail address, address book and the following message, grammar problems and all, was sent to all of the people on that list.
"Dear friend," the phony e-mail begins. "We are one of the largest Chinese exporters electronic wholesaler, which can support the most effective and high quality products with competitive prices. And we hope we can do business in the long term ship with you. You can inquire your questions to our email."
Ramsey found out he'd been the victim of the virus after friends e-mailed him about it.
Ramsey then notified his address book recipients of what happened.
"I usually don't ever open e-mails when I don't know who they're from," he said.
Members of the 9NEWS Information Technology department said the virus is a more "sophisticated" version of a fairly common virus that usually only steals your e-mail address.
