WASHINGTON--According to an advisory sent Tuesday, a number of people have reported receiving an email proported to have been sent from the Congressional Budget Office. But instead of bad news about government costs, this time it's about the email itself, which actually "is a malicious message with a PDF attachment containing a dangerous virus," the advisory said.

The email appears to come from outside the U.S., and no one is sure how many people received the message or how the address list was obtained. As a precaution, the CBO sent the advisory to all subscribers of the CBO list server.

From the notification:

If you received an email message from an unknown gmail account with a subject of: MONTHLY BUDGET REVIEW_A Congressional Budget Office Analysis and a body that contains the following text:

"Based on the Monthly Treasury Statement for February and the Daily Treasury Statements for March April 4, 2008 Halfway through fiscal year 2008, the federal government has incurred a deficit of $310 billion, CBO estimates,$51 billion more than the shortfall incurred during the same period in 2007. Outlays have risen by 5 percent in the first half of the year, whereas revenues have grown by about 2 percent. Detail for the attached document."

Please delete it. Also, do not click on the PDF attachment at the bottom of the message. It contains a dangerous virus that could damage your computer.

If you have received this message, please notify alert@cbo.gov to help the CBO determine how the address list was obtained. This address will be active until June 1st.