We thought this amusing and worth bringing to your attention. It’s a great example of SPAM/SCAM email, and what to recognize in an email to see how legitimate it is, or isn’t.We do get messages that the IT Department keeps busy filtering out.
The 2 email messages below we received overnight to a general department email address.
- There are 2 flags already. The Court system doesn’t communicate via email, notifying those involved that they need to appear. A notification would not go to a general department email address. This in itself makes the following kind of redundant.
- Notice that the “Court Date” on each email had already passed – creating a sense of panic/urgency.
- Important email like this would come from an individual, not “State Court”, or “District Court”
- The email addresses in each email are likely hacked or spoofed. Any court system would not send an email from an address attached to healthy smoothies (?!), or a music site in Russia (note the “.ru” part of the email address in the second).
- The brevity, the lack of information, the wording and other subtleties in the messages also raise flags.
So, why do they do it? Well, both of these messages had attachments that would have contained the “Case Information” – oh, and a Virus.
That’s the objective. Pretend to be someone, somewhere they’re not, panic a user, cause the user to blindly open an attachment and immediately infect their computer.
What can you do to keep your property and information safe?
- Use your common sense.
- Breath, and don’t panic.
- Look for the flags we noted above, and apply them to any suspicious email you may receive.
- Don’t open attachments from strangers.
- Delete the message.
State Court ([email protected])
Notice to appear in Court #00157871 Oct 25
Notice to Appear,This is to inform you to appear in the Court on the November 01 for your case hearing.
You are kindly asked to prepare and bring the documents relating to the case to Court on the specified date.
Note: If you do not come, the case will be heard in your absence.The Court Notice is attached to this email.
Kind regards,
Andrew Leach,
Court Secretary.
The second was:
District Court ([email protected])Notice of appearance in Court #0000918209 Oct 23
Notice to Appear,This is to inform you to appear in the Court on the October 28 for your case hearing.
Please, do not forget to bring all the documents related to the case.
Note: The case may be heard by the judge in your absence if you do not come.You can find the Court Notice is in the attachment.
Kind regards,
Kenneth Norton,
Court Secretary.
