14 DAY TRIAL // The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published an advisory to warn small businesses about malicious emails that purport to come from the agency.
The emails carry the subject line “Pending consumer complaint” and they inform recipients that a complaint has been filed against them with the FTC. The links contained in the fake notifications are said to lead to malware.
People who find such emails in their inboxes are advised to delete them immediately. Victims of the attack are recommended to scan their computers with an updated antivirus solution.
If this is a scam aimed at small businesses, it could be a campaign whose goal is to harvest sensitive information. The cybercriminals might be after information that would give them access to the company’s bank account.
Even small businesses can have a lot of money in their bank accounts, and, since many of them don’t have any fancy cybersecurity systems in place, they’re easy targets.
We recently learned that cybercriminals tricked staff at a school in Britain into handing over bank account information. The crooks managed to steal £1.1 million ($1.84 million / €1.33 million) from the organization’s accounts.
Earlier this year, the FTC warned people of tech support scams.