These are the situations where I tend to go overboard making sure I am safe, here is what I would do.

First I went here to verify the phone number was not a doubtful source. They had no record so it may well be to McAfee. One positive step. Personally I would phone them and use whatever resources they offer in the way of a scan.

You said you use Norton, be sure it is up to date and run a FULL scan, not the usual quick scan they may run every day. Norton show the last definition update as December 6th. Do the same with Superantispyware, the latest updates are dated December 7th, core definition 3663 and trace 1645, again run the full scan not the quick scan.

I would also do one more scan and as I have Malwarebytes and Threatfire installed I would select one of those, check it was up to date and run the scan.

At that point I would feel comfortable knowing I had done about as much as I could.

I would go directly to their website to see if they have any type of notice up to their customers with this warning, then I would call them directly from the phone number they have for customer service and ask them if the letter is legit. If there are links in the actual letter do not click on them before you verify directly with them that this is a legit letter and not a phishing attempt. many of these type letters look very legit and they want you to click on a link in the letter which then be exactly what does infect you.

contact them directly, all banks advise that when in doubt these days.

Thanks. I ran the full viruses and nothing came up other than "tracking cookies" which I fixed.

I went to my account in the mycheckfree website and there was an email to me in my inbox mentioning the one I shared with you above. Apparently, it's real. The phone number on my Windows email and the one within the checkfree website are the same.

I'll call them tomorrow and see what's up. When I went to the linked site for phone numbers, I see many people wrote about receiving this same email which was addressed to each person.

Hopefully, it's nothing but I won't chance it so a call to mycheckfree is in order tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help.

That website was recently hacked. Here's the article:

Here is a link that might be useful: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/12/digging_deeper_into_the_checkf.html?

the businesses i use never email me about stuff like that, they use snail mail only.

I got this same e-mail on 12/7 and I don't have an account or any dealings with these people. Sunday was the first time I'd ever heard of them. I think it's a scam. I visited their website and they say nothing that I can find about phishing problems, but this seems to be a global (heck--probably galaxy-wide) problem that won't be going away anytime soon. It's very unnerving.

Wow, Mona's link is rather sobering, frightening even. In a report a couple of years ago security analysts suggested the crooks were getting ahead of the security community.

Your MyCheckFree account will have a message about the email they sent: click Messages and then View. The same phone number is listed (the 4864 one).

Other sites have extensive and confusing discussions on the hack, with claims and counterclaims on the legitimacy issue of the email and the clumsy way MyCheckFree handled it (why did my gmail account think it was spam? This is a common result of their posting). It appears legit. I will call tomorrow and post the results.

Jordansmith, as you signed up for Gardenweb today just to post your comment you might consider stating who you are in the reply you intend to make after a phone call.

I found out the email is legit. I called checkfree from the # on their website and was told if anyone was on the site during the specific hours mentioned in OP then they could be sujected to a hacker. I think I was that day, but can't remember the time.

Anyway, checkfee only plans to provide people with a free one year McAfee virus program (big deal). I was told many people are not aware that if they pay their bills on line, the on line places may even use checkfree to pay the bills, unbeknown to you, which is why you "think" you don't have an account with checkfree, but you do. I found this out when I ask why people who don't have an account with them are getting the email. It doesn't quite make sense why someone's bill would be paid through checkfree if they didn't ask it to be via signing up. Interesting!!!!

The woman I spoke with wasn't too terribly helpful, was aware of the issue, and frankly, didn't seem to care much.

I've run my anti virus programs and luckily nothing came up. I've checked and will continue to check my accounts to ensure there's no fowl play. I have, through my credit card company, a faud package, so if anything happens to my accounts, I'm covered.

Besides, this and changing PWs, there's not much else anyone can do.

there are a lot of options out there. i opted to pay my bills by auto draft. i didn't trust myself to do it online, i was afraid i would make a mistake. i trust my bank and the companies i have dealt with for years.

No intention of detracting from any financial entity.

Currently there is no Federal limitation or relief for fraudulent bank transactions; i.e saving, checking, etc. I just recommend members check their state laws and financial institution agreements for their protection rights.

This is not meant to create confusion in regards to the Federal fraudulent credit card protection which does limit a cardholder's responsibility to $50.00 per card.

I just received the MyCheckFree email from them this AM. I also went directly to their website, not by clicking any links, but by typing in the URL. There was a message in my inbox which verified that the email was legit. I immediately changed my password on this account and on the account from which my funds are drawn to pay my online bills. I have run 2 complete virus scans using Norton since December 2, and I will run a 3rd one this AM. I did access MyCheckFree sometime during that week (don't remember when) but I am pretty sure I didn't receive a blank screen, and I know better than to download software. So I think I am safe, but this whole thing is very disturbing.

So, thanks all for this thread and especially to mona who posted the link to the WashingtonPost article.