The Government of Monaco recently issued a warning to its residents regarding a new wave of phishing emails. The scam emails have been sent out under the guise of the Department of Public Security (Sûreté Publique). These fraudulent messages attempt to trick the recipients into opening an attachment, which is said to be part of a potentially dangerous phishing campaign.
The subject matter of these emails is alarming, as they summon recipients in connection with allegations of sexual crimes. These poorly crafted messages inform the recipients that they are implicated in a legal procedure and request them to open a PDF document attached in the email. The fraudsters also request a reply to the email.
The Government of Monaco is urging residents not to open these attachments or respond to the emails. Instead, the residents are advised to forward the suspicious emails to the government at cyber@gouv.mc. The Department of Public Security has also confirmed that they never send summons via email. Official emails from the Government always come from addresses with the format xxxx@gouv.mc.