FBI warns of spoofed IC3 sites harvesting data

The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned this week that cybercriminals are spoofing its Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3, by creating fake websites that mimic the official portal and harvest personal and financial information from victims. The advisory, issued in a public service announcement on September 19, said the malicious sites have appeared in mid-September and are targeting people trying to file reports with the bureau’s primary online tool for reporting internet crime.

The FBI said threat actors are creating lookalike domains and using slight alterations in spelling or top-level domains to trick users into believing they are on the legitimate www.ic3.gov site. Once on a spoofed page, visitors are asked to enter personally identifiable information such as name, home address, phone number, email address, and banking details. The bureau warned that criminals can then use that information to commit identity theft, financial fraud, or to demand payments under false pretenses.

“Members of the public could unknowingly visit spoofed websites while attempting to find FBI IC3’s website to submit an IC3 report,” the FBI said. According to cybersecurity reporting,...