The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office is issuing notices about the second round of spoof emails that appear to be coming from their office. They report they began receiving calls today (Wednesday) about the emails that are asking people to open an attached file. That file, however, likely contains malware and a virus could be downloaded onto the computer. This has the potential to capture passwords, account information or file encryption decoding. It could also result in the spreading of the virus to other computers that may be connected to the user’s network. The sheriff’s office’s IT department has told them that the emails could be coming in phases over the course of several months. They urge everyone to be sure of the source before opening any attachments. They have provided an example of the scam email that ends with @aplechugas.com. If you receive such an email with attachments, do not open it and notify your IT professional of the issue. Checking the address is one of the quickest and easiest methods to determine the authenticity of a message. Typically, email from government agencies originates from addresses ending in .gov.
