State Police warns public of email hoax

ALBANY -- State Police are cautioning residents not to open any emails claiming to be a "uniform traffic ticket," warning the missives contain a computer virus.

The email hoax is not from the state Department of Motor Vehicles or State Police, but pretends to be. It asks recipients to open the attached zip file -- supposedly a copy of the ticket -- fill it out and send it to a town court.

Police said the email subject line may contain the title "UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET" and says, "the person described above is charged as follows."

The ticket lists the time as 7:25 a.m., the date of the offense as July 5 and describes the violation as "speed over 55 zone." It then states, "to plead, print out the enclosed ticket and send it to town court, Chatham Hall, PO Box 117."

The attached file instead contains a virus and is being analyzed by the State Police computer forensics lab, police said. If someone does open the attachment, he or she should update and run anti-virus software and take steps to make sure the computer is secure, police said.

The public is being asked not to forward these emails to state or local police.

The hoax follows a similar email that circulated nationwide through Yahoo accounts in July. This hoax, police said, targets all types of email accounts.