Voter registration scam can steal your personal info — what to do
Voter registration scam can steal your personal info — what to practice
Online crooks, Russian spies or maybe both are using fake voter-registration emails to cajole personal details such as names, addresses, dates of nativity and Social Security numbers out of American voters eager to take part in the upcoming U.S. full general election.
That's the word from KnowBe4, a firm that provides awareness grooming against phishing attacks and other security issues.
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"Your Arizona voter'south registration application submited has been reviewed by your County Clerk and some few details couldnt be comfirmed," reads a sample email included inn a KnowBe4 web log posting. "Please recomfirm details to allow for processing which may have upwards to 2 days to reflect in the system."
That'due south followed by a helpful link stating "You may reconfirm application here."
Lindsey O'Donnell at Threatpost pointed out that the lousy spelling, grammar and punctuation ought to be a tip-off that this is a phishing e-mail. But sometimes that merely helps phishers weed out the smart people.
The email looks like it's coming from the U.S. Ballot Aid Committee, a real federal agency set up to assistance states administer elections in the wake of the 2000 Florida hanging-republic of chad debacle.
Nonetheless the link goes to a false version of Service Arizona, the official website of the Arizona motor vehicle department, which does have a voter-registration department.
The fake site asks for everything an identity thief would need to steal your identity: your name, mailing address, date of nativity and Social Security number, plus your e-mail address and commuter's-license information. (The real Service Arizona site asks just for the concluding four digits of your SSN.)
How to avert this phishing scam
Needless to say, if you get a similar e-mail that seems to come up from the U.S. Ballot Assistance Committee or a related agency, be very careful. Call the agency in question to confirm it's real instead of clicking on the embedded link.
If you practice click on the link, cheque the website address, and don't bear out this business on a phone or tablet. And don't ever give out your full Social Security number to anyone who asks — simply your employer and the IRS needs to know that.
Oddly enough, KnowBe4'due south Eric Howes wrote, the email sample was submitted by a KnowBe4 user in Kenosha, Wisconsin, "a locality that has been in the news recently due to widely reported ceremonious unrest in the expanse."
Similar Arizona, Wisconsin is a "battleground" state that the presidential candidates are fighting to win. That fact led Howes to speculate that this might not just be a mere phishing e-mail.
"Given the election bending," he wrote, "we cannot ignore the possibility that this phish may be part of an attempt by parties unknown to arbitrate in the election, either by seeding confusion and chaos in the election process or engaging in some form of ballot fraud."
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/voter-registration-phishing-email
Posted by: teetersbefiscure.blogspot.com
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