Spammers Spoof AG’s Name and Official Webpage

A new spam mail showing the photograph of Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas along with the Website banner of the Office of Attorney General is currently hitting inboxes statewide. However, these e-mails with a poorly constructed message and sometimes using "Attorney General of Texas" as the subject title do not seek for personal information or money.

The e-mails, which make a false pretense of legitimacy, mention the recipient's name and give a vague warning of a business deal with the United Nations. Also, the objective of e-mail is not clear, as it doesn't include any URL link or make a solicitation for money, but like other spam mails, these could make a solicitation later on.

The main message in the spam said that the AG is contacting people to inform every recipient that his business deal with the UN concerning his package that is not yet released is a legal deal. However, the message adds that the recipient must ensure that he provides all the information being requested to maintain the country's security.

A Spokesman on behalf of the Office of the AG said that the agency received no complaints regarding the e-mail, however, officials wished to inform all the Texans about it so that they could be careful and not fall for the scam.

Also, Texans could safeguard their e-mail IDs from spammers' attacks by coordinating with their ISPs to deploy free spam blocks, filters and other services to manage junk e-mails. Furthermore, computer users should know about the privacy policy of a Website before disclosing their e-mail ID, while most legal vendors help users to restrain the organization from providing their information to any unapproved third party.

In addition, Mr. Abbott's office is advising recipients that they should neither answer to the e-mails nor click on any link provided in them, as that could lead to divulging personal information. It is also asking users to install Web-safety devices such as blocks and filters that could prevent identity thieves from using spam mails to harvest private information.

To spread its word around, Abbott's office issued an e-mail alert for consumers on July 3, 2008.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 7/24/2008