Scammers use cops’ email to phish
(CNS): The RCIPS is urging the public not to click on a fraudulent email currently circulating that purports to come from the Financial Crime Unit and instead forward it to them. The police said that no one has yet reported being conned in this scam. The email suggests that a police complaint has been filed against the recipient and asks them to click a link ‘attachment’ to the case file for them to urgently review.
The link in the email is a phishing attempt and members of the public are warned not to click on any such links.
If any similar email is received it should be forwarded to the RCIPS Financial Crime Investigation Unit at RCIPS.FCU@rcips.ky.
Police said domain names on email addresses can be spoofed, as in this case where it appears to be sent from a genuine RCIPS address, ending in “@rcips.ky”, but is a scam nonetheless.
“Generally, when contacting members of the public via email, RCIPS staff will sign their name and position at the bottom of the email,” the police said. “The RCIPS also does not distribute case files via email.”
Officers said that other indications that an email is fraudulent, all of which are present in this case, are: scammers address recipients by an email address and not by name, there are frequent typos and grammar mistakes and an oddly formatted signature. See example of the fraudulent email below:
If you have any suspicions about any correspondence said to be from the RCIPS, please contact the relevant police department for confirmation. A list of phone numbers for the various RCIPS departments can be found on the RCIPS website.
The RCIPS Financial Crime Investigation Unit can be contacted by phone at 949-8797.
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If I had received that, I probably would have thought about it, assessed urgency, risk of allegation vs possible malware, and then factoring ambient levels of CIG ineptitude and IT naivety, ironically clicked on link. It’s pretty convincing otherwise, because who (other than Cabinet members) would be in the habit of getting anything along these lines? Most of us would want to shut down that line of inquiry immediately.
There’s also one floating around from FLOW – I had 2 the same day – they tell you they’ve updated the server and there are 12 or 13 Pending EMails….’Click here to release the pending EMails’ is the link (words to that effect). Look closely at the sender address – the first looks genuine then there’s a sub-address which is obviously spoofed. Other than that, they look like Genuine FLOW Messages.
Wait – we have a Financial Crimes Unit?!? What do they do?