The FBI has issued an urgent warning about fake websites spoofing the official Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3.gov). Scammers are using SEO poisoning and look-alike domains (e.g., ichelpindex.com) to trick victims of cybercrime into submitting sensitive personal data and banking details under the guise of filing a report.
Business Impact
This preys on employees or individuals who have already been victimized, leading to “revictimization.” It complicates incident response, as employees attempting to report a breach may inadvertently hand over more data to criminals, worsening the situation.
Why It Happened
Attackers are exploiting the trust in government institutions. They use sponsored search ads to ensure their fake sites appear at the top of search results when victims look for “how to report cybercrime.”
Recommended Executive Action
Update your incident response plan to include the correct, verified URLs for reporting cybercrime (www.ic3.gov). Educate employees that the FBI will never ask for sensitive banking passwords or fees to investigate a crime via a web form.
Hashtags: #FBI #Phishing #IC3 #Fraud #SocialEngineering #CyberCrime #ScamAlert #InfoSec