Avoid getting scammed by fake "Australian Federal Police" emails

What kind of email is "Australian Federal Police"?

After inspecting this "Australian Federal Police" email, we determined that it is fake. It shares many similarities with the "Summon To Court For Pedophilia" campaign. The "Australian Federal Police" spam letter notifies the recipient of a court order issued against them regarding pornographic material featuring minors.

It must be emphasized that this scam email is not associated with the actual Australian Federal Police or any other legitimate authorities and entities.

"Australian Federal Police" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "ATTEN: OFFICIAL COURT ORDER AGAINST YOU." (may vary) informs the recipient of a court order issued against them by the "Forensic Department of the Australian Federal Police". The fake court order itself is attached to this letter.

The email details the types of crimes investigated and the techniques used by this department. The gist is that these investigations monitor visits to websites hosting pornography featuring or depicting minors. This implies that the recipient has been captured visiting such sites.

The recipient is warned that they will face serious legal repercussions if they do not respond within 24 hours. The attached document – "(AFP} australian federal police.pdf" (filename may vary) – imitates an official document rife with legal jargon.

It must be emphasized that the claims made by this scam are false, and this mail is not associated with the Australian Federal Police, Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation initiative, or Interpol.

This spam email aims to deceive recipients into communicating with scammers. During communication, victims can be lured into disclosing sensitive information like log-in credentials (e.g., emails, social networking/media, messengers, money transferring, online banking, etc.), ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit/debit card numbers, and other data.

Cyber criminals can give legitimate-sounding reasons for requiring this information, such as verifying the recipient's identity or investigating their online accounts. Alternatively, scammers can trick victims into sending them money by presenting the demand as a fine or a legal fee.

In summary, by trusting an email like "Australian Federal Police" – users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If you have disclosed your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all possibly exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay. And if you have provided personally identifiable or finance-related information to scammers – immediately contact the appropriate authorities.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Australian Federal Police" spam email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient has a court order regarding pornography involving minors issued against them.
Disguise	Australian Federal Police, Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, Interpol
Attachment(s)	(AFP} australian federal police.pdf (filename may vary)
Symptoms	Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of the computer.
Distribution methods	Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains.
Damage	Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Spam campaigns in general

We have investigated countless spam campaigns. This mail is used to promote various scams like phishing, advance fee, tech support, sextortion, refund, inheritance, lottery, and so on. Spam is also used to proliferate malware.

While the commonly held belief that these emails are poorly written and riddled with errors is not untrue, it is not always the case. These letters can be competently crafted and even believably disguised as messages from legitimate entities (e.g., authorities, service providers, institutions, organizations, companies, etc.).

"Domain Service Sent A De-activation Notice", "Capital One - Your Reward Credit Is On The Way", "DHL Order Details", "Ledger Recovery Phrase Verification", "PayPal - Avira Security Purchase", "Blockchain Rewards", "Elon Musk - Donation From Change", "American Express - Payment On Hold", "Staff Whose Employment Have Been Terminated", "DHL - Customs Clearance", and "Product Specification For Korean Market" are just some of our newest articles on spam campaigns.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Email spam campaigns proliferate malware by distributing infectious files as attachments or download links. These files come in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Once a malicious file is opened – the infection chain is initiated. However, some formats require additional user interaction to trigger malware download/installation. For example, Microsoft Office files need users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents require them to click embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

It is important to approach incoming emails, DMs/PMs, SMSes, and other messages with caution. We advise against opening attachments or links found in dubious/irrelevant mail, as they can be harmful or infectious.

It must be mentioned that malware is proliferated using various methods. Therefore, we recommend being vigilant while browsing since the Internet is rife with well-disguised fraudulent and malicious content.

Furthermore, all downloads must be performed from official and verified sources. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using functions/tools provided by legitimate developers, as illegal product activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updates can contain malware.

It is paramount for device integrity and user safety to have a reputable anti-virus installed and kept updated. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove threats and issues. If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Australian Federal Police" spam email letter:

Subject: ATTEN: OFFICIAL COURT ORDER AGAINST YOU.

COURT ORDER.
We hereby inform you of the attached alleged court order against your Internet IP traffic by the Forensic Department of the Australian Federal Police
It is quite unfortunate to turn your official or private Internet into a juvenile pornographic movie cyber.

The Australian Federal Police and Head of Department of the Australian INTERPOL National Central Bureau in handling all complex and sensitive cases of cyber crime, especially when the victims are women and minor children.

Our laboratories are equipped with state of the art spider/crawling digital software and equipment, having forensic capabilities such as extraction of deleted data from hard disks and mobile phones, imaging and hash value calculation, forensic servers and portable forensic tools for on-site examination, facility to extract data from latest Android or IOS as well as Chinese phones.

 

Based on the above, it is extremely difficult for any victim to consciously or unconsciously visit juvenile pornographic sites without being digitally captured.

More information or clarification regarding the court order will be made available to you upon receipt of your response within 24 hours; our office operates 24 hours / 7 days.

Be assured that serious legal action will be taken against you if you fail to respond to this notice within 24 hours of receipt.
To forewarn is to forearm.

Sincerely,
Dr Sarah Benson,
Chief Forensic Scientist (CFS)
Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Screenshot of the fake court order attached to the "Australian Federal Police" spam email:

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Quick menu:

• What is "Australian Federal Police" spam email?
• Types of malicious emails.
• How to spot a malicious email?
• What to do if you fell for an email scam?

Types of malicious emails:

Phishing Emails

Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.

Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.

After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.

Emails with Malicious Attachments

Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.

In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.

If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.

While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.

Sextortion Emails

This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.

To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.

How to spot a malicious email?

While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:

• Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
• Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
• Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
• Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.

To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows. 

Example of a spam email:

What to do if you fell for an email scam?

• If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
• If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
• If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
• If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
• Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did I receive this email?

Spam emails are not personal, even if they include details relevant to the recipients. This mail is distributed in large-scale operations – therefore, thousands of users receive identical (or incredibly similar) emails.

I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?

If you have provided your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support. However, if the disclosed information was of a different personal nature (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit/debit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the corresponding authorities.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Reading an email poses no infection threat; systems are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?

Whether your device was infected might depend on the format of the opened file. Once launched, executables (.exe, .run, etc.) cause infections almost without fail. However, some formats – like documents (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.) – might need extra actions, such as enabling macros, clicking embedded content, and so forth.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Combo Cleaner is designed to scan computers and eliminate all kinds of threats. It can detect and remove most of the known malware infections. It must be stressed that performing a complete system scan is crucial since sophisticated malicious programs typically hide deep within systems.

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