Watch out, cyber criminals are using fake FBI emails to infect your computer

The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning of a new malware campaign aimed at infecting victims with weaponized attachments.

The Feds’ Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning of a new spam campaign aimed at infecting victims with a ransomware. According to an alert issued on Wednesday by the IC3, numerous citizens filled complaints after received emails purporting to be from IC3. The message pretends to be the compensation from a cyber attack and asks the victims to fill the attached document, but the file is laced with malware.

The story is interesting, the email reports that a Nigerian cyber criminal had been arrested and feds have found the recipient’s email address of the alleged scammer’s PC. The email asks victims to return the document with recipient info and wait for the refund to arrive. Once the victim has opened the document, the infection process will start.

The FBI has identified at least three other versions of the IC3 impersonation scam:

“The first involved a fake IC3 social media page, which advertised itself as the FBI Cyber Crime Department (IC3) and requested recipients provide personal information in order to report an internet crime.” states the alert issued by the FBI. “
“The second involved an email which stated the recipient was treated unfairly by various banks and courier companies. The email claimed the recipient’s name was found in a financial company’s database and that they will be compensated for this unfair treatment.”
“The third example involved an email from the Internet Crime Investigation Center/Cyber Division and provided an address in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The email also included a case reference number in the subject line. The email informed the recipient that their IP address was referred to the IC3 as a possible victim of a federal cyber-crime. The email then requests the recipient to contact the sender via telephone.”

FBI is currently investigating the cases, victims of an online scam can file a complaint with the IC3 at www.ic3.gov.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – FBI, malware)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.