A Sydney retiree has come out to warn others about a fake Australian Federal Police (AFP) scam, after his contact details nearly found themselves in criminals’ hands.
The AFP has told people they need to keep an eye out for this new scam, which appears to serve as a subpoena on the recipient, ABC News reported.
The scam arrives via email, telling people that they’ve committed a crime.
It reads: “You’ve received a subpoena … You are invited to the law court by the judge because of crime commitment”.
The email also contains a case number and a link inviting the recipient to download case files.
A spokesman for the AFP said not to click on the links, warning they could contain viruses or malware.
“Delete the email from your inbox and deleted items folder immediately,” he said.
“The AFP does not issue subpoenas via email.”
Sydney retiree Allan Reynolds received the scam email this week and said he opened it because it looked genuine.
“This one looked real, very real,” he said.
“I went into it to see what it was all about and then I realised it looked a bit fishy.”
Mr Reynolds said he was worried the email may have downloaded a virus onto his computer or taken his personal details.
“I’m concerned they’ve got all my details, our details, I don’t know what they’ve got,” he said.
“I have no idea what’s happened now, I mean I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
The scam email has been around for about a fortnight and the AFP has warned it may continue to be sent out using different web servers to avoid detection by anti-virus software.
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