Scammers have begun impersonating President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in new phishing emails that distribute malware or attempt to trick users into falling victim to extortion scams. Email security company Inky has uncovered a series of of phishing emails in which cybercriminals attempt to impersonate the White House. In these emails, the cybercriminals say they are sending the latest "Coronavirus Guidelines for America" on behalf of President Trump and ask recipients to click a link to download a document. Once a user clicks on the link, they are redirected to a web page posing as the White House and containing another link to "Download and read the full document." The second link then downloads a malicious Word document that forces a user to "Turn on modification" and "Turn on content" to view it. If a user does this, malicious macros will launch that malware on their computer. Since the site pushing the malware has been removed, it is unclear what malware was distributed during this attack.
Vice President Pence Phishing Scam
A separate phishing scam has also been uncovered that fakes the identity of US Vice President Pence, even if it looks more like an extortion scam than an attempt to install malware on a device. user In this scam, users receive an email from the VP stating that they have just completed a safety meeting about the recipient's business. The email indicates that the company is involved in human smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering and that Pence wants to reach a "deal" before taking the matter up with President Trump. While this scam does not distribute malware, it does offer the victim an opportunity to respond and strike a "deal" with the scammer that likely involves sending Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency to avoid the VP to talk. Everyone needs to remain vigilant during this difficult period to avoid falling victim to the many coronavirus scams that are currently spreading on the internet.- Also check out our full list of the best VPN services