New Malware: Fake Speeding Tickets

Security News This Week: Clever Malware Is Sending People Fake Speeding Tickets

Wired Security | April 2, 2016

Some Very Clever Malware Is Sending Out Fake Speeding Tickets
Malware that targets everyday citizens is bad, full stop. But it can also be impressively clever! Police in Philadelphia suburb Chester County report that people have been receiving emails that contain fake speeding citations—along with a malicious phishing link. In itself, that’s not so surprising. But investigators report that the people receiving those emails really were speeding at the locations the citation claims. They suspect a hacker may have compromised a GPS-enable app to give their scam an added dose of veracity. So far only a handful of people have been affected, and the actual method responsible hasn’t been confirmed. If the scheme is half as clever as it seems, though—well, they should still cut it out.

Investigators shared a redacted version of one of the emails with Philadelphia magazine, and we mocked it up to show you what the speeding ticket scam looks like. The sender is the actual sender that appears on the bogus citation email.

From: Speeding Citation (citation@safe-browsing.com)

To: vfiorillo@phillymag.com

Subject: Notification of excess speed

First Name: Victor

Last Name: Fiorillo

Notification of excess speed

Route: Mill Road

Date: 8 March 2016

Time: 7:55 am

Speed Limit: 40

Detected Speed: 52

The Infraction Statement contains an image of your license plate and the citation which must be paid in 5 working days.

Source: http://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/03/25/speeding-ticket-scam/

<more at http://www.wired.com/2016/04/security-news-week-clever-malware-sending-people-fake-speeding-tickets/; related links and articles: http://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/03/25/speeding-ticket-scam/ (Beware This Crazy Speeding Ticket Scam. Philadelphia-area residents have been targeted, and the level of information the perpetrator has is downright scary. Here’s what you need to know. March 25, 2016) and http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/27/11312960/speeding-ticket-malware-scam-email-pennsylvania (Malware scam appears to use GPS data to catch speeding Pennsylvania drivers. March 27, 2016)>