FCC warns of new phishing scam

Bogus messages from the FCC solicit fees through its online payment option

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is warning businesses to be on the lookout for a new spam run impersonating its Fee Filer payment system.

The FCC said in a statement (PDF) that a new phishing attack is attempting to dupe companies into handing over financial details through bogus regulatory payments.

The messages purport to be from the FCC and solicit fees through its online payment option. The user is then redirected to a phishing site which harvests all financial information.

Users are advised to make sure that they are, in fact, visiting the FCC site itself before entering any financial details.

This is not the first time that a US federal agency has been used as lure by attackers.

Messages purporting to be from the Federal Trade Commission and Internal Revenue Service have been used in the past to convince users to open malicious attachments and steal financial information.

The scams are often part of 'spear phishing' attacks which go after a small number of high-value targets, rather than large numbers of random individuals of varying wealth.