Michigan police warn of recent fraudulent emails

The Michigan State Police (MSP) and the Michigan Cyber Command Center (MC3) said on Friday that they have noticed an increase in fraudulent emails with malicious links or attachments sent to businesses and individuals all over Michigan.

The virus these emails contain, the Emotet virus, can steal contact information from any email address book on affected computers, according to Michigan State Police.

Stealing passwords and banking information, encrypting user files, and spreading itself to other computers are among the capabilities of this virus, police said.

The two organizations warn that recent emails linked to the scam have had the subject line include words such as “Invoice” or “Receipt” and contain an attachment or link to download a PDF, MS Word or Excel document containing the virus.

Police are instructing users to consider whether or not they are expecting an email or document from any email sender before opening attachments or clicking links.

More information about the virus can be found here.