Q: I have received an email to my alias from an unknown company thanking me for buying something I did not buy. What's happened?
A: This could have an innocent explanation, such as somebody entering their address incorrectly when making a purchase, but it is also possible that this could have a malicious cause. Some viruses generate emails thanking the recipient for buying offensive or illegal material with the intention of causing alarm. There have also been email attacks that use a tactic of emailing random people to thank them for placing an order, with a link to cancel that order - the link being to a web page that attempts to install a "trojan horse" program.
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