A Sobering Email
Interesting that the most successful email virus in years plays off people's fears of the government. This Sober variant announces that it is from the FBI.gov or the CIA.gov. (public affairs), and claims that the government has logged your IP surfing illegal websites. It then demands that you fill out the attached form, which is really the virus.
Some are signed with the following:
- Please answer our questions!
Steven Allison
Department Office Admin Mail Post
*** Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-
*** 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3220
*** Washington, DC 20535
++++ Central Intelligence Agency -CIA-
++++ Office of Public Affairs
++++ Washington, D.C. 20505
++++ phone: (703) 482-0623
++++ 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., US Eastern time
When I received it, it struck me as particularly compelling, and, really, hilarious. Meanwhile, the FBI and CIA have made public comments: "Recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the FBI does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner."
Right. If these agencies are after you, contact from them would usually come in a different form.
Comments (2)
John McCarthy
Dear Mr. Tucker,
I myself received one of these notices on Wednesday of this week. Mine, however, merely informed me that I had visited thirty illegal websites and did not ask me to contact anyone. Thankfully I deleted it as I did not recognize the email adress of the sender.
Regards,
John
Published: November 26, 2005 8:02 AM
Bruce
This is similar, but not quite the same as, those auto insurance commercials whose main selling point is not so much their products as in the coercive arm of the government.
Published: November 26, 2005 4:52 PM