Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Criminals Impersonating City and County Officials in Phishing Emails for Planning and Zoning Permits

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Senior U.S. Officials Continue to be Impersonated in Malicious Messaging Campaign

We'd like to know more and we'd like to tell you more, too.

But we can't. First, the mail is sent out in HTML (aka Rich Text) which is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way for fraudulent emails, including phishing mails but also mails for man-in the middle any impersonation fraud, to be sent to individual targets or in indiscriminate mailings?

Why? Because those pretty mails that PR and marketing people prefer because they are effective sales tools are also effective fraud tools.

Sensible companies strip out HTML from mails before delivering them to end users.

And so do we.

But usually we can see what's been stripped out.

In the case of these two mails, we can't. The content is blank.

And while we'd like to know what they said so we could tell you something that looks interesting, the only way we can do that is to search the IC3/FBI website for statements.

Well, no. We can't be bothered. If Ic3/FBI can't be bothered to deliver usable information, why should we. Incidentally, the FBI also sends out its press releases in this high-risk format.

So as warnings go, it turns out to be rubbish.

Like charity, security should begin at home and law enforcement should not be responsible for desenstitising millions of people to the risk of HTML and, worse, sending out something that can so easily be replicated by actual fraudsters with the attendant credibility.

Report card? 0/10.

Which is pretty crappy for bodies that have one job: to work towards the reduction of internet crime.