Email spam pretending to be from AFP or Australia Post

I usually delete spam emails but today I received an email that was apparently from Australian Federal Police (in cooperation with Australia Post) and looked twice.

The email begins with a headline: You’ve received a Subpoena

Following that are instructions to contact your nearest police office or view case notices, and it provides a link for viewing the notices, and also a link for downloading them.

It also has a little warning at the bottom of the email that if you don’t provide the information required within 14 days the court can take place without your permission.

Needless to say, I didn’t click anything but immediately rang the AFP in case they didn’t already know about this spam email. The answering machine at the other end advised that they certainly do know all about it and to not bother reporting it but just delete the email; which I promptly did.

I am just letting the visitors to this site/page know about this only because it does look a bit more legitimate than your average spam email, and might prompt other people to not simply delete it but to ‘do the right thing’ and report it to the authorities. Don’t bother; simply delete it and move on.