Parents nowadays must be receiving an email alert that claims “a child predator has moved to your neighborhood.”
As per the content of this email, parents are informed that a child predator has moved into their neighborhood recently.
The recipient is asked to click on a link to receive more information about the predator.
The email appears to be an “automated local community alert,” claiming that the warning has been issued due to the recipient’s IP address and zip code.
However, in reality there is no such warning issued by concerned authorities and this is a bogus email.
The offered link doesn’t provide information about the person but leads to a page that contains malware.
The website that the user gets redirected to is a fake or compromised one.
As soon as the user visits the link, a malware gets downloaded and installed on the computer system.
The purpose of installing this malware is to harvest critically important personal information like user ID and password of the infected device.
The information is instantly received by cyber criminals waiting online.
Not just this, the malware also encourages installation of several other malware. In this way, hackers can fully control the infected device.
Screenshot of phishing email:
Users, after downloading, are taken to a genuine website offering news and reports on sex offenders. However, this website has got nothing to do with the malware attack.
The fake emails were firstly reported in November 2014 and according to recent data, these fake emails are being distributed again since January 2015.
Important Note:
The dates, subject message and the actual content of this email may vary so you need to be cautious. Never click or open any of the attachments that such bogus emails contain.
