13 Nov
U.S. Federal Reserve Fraudulent Email Scam
US-CERT is aware of public reports of a fraudulent email scam circulating via messages that falsely appear to be from the U.S. Federal Reserve. These email messages contain information about a phishing scam and links for users to follow to obtain additional information about the scam. If a user follows the links, they will be redirected to a malicious website where a PDF exploit is used to install malicious code on the affected system.
US-CERT encourages users to do the following to help mitigate the risks:
- Do not follow unsolicited links.
- Use caution when visiting untrusted websites.
- Install antivirus software and keep the virus signatures up to date.
- Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
- Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks.