Police warning of email scam

Fake messages made to appear as if sent by city of Yuma

The Yuma Police Department and the city of Yuma would like to warn the community about emails being sent that have been reported as a possible phishing scam.

So far the emails have only been received in the Phoenix and Indio, Calif., area, but the concern is that since they have been made to look like they were sent by the city of Yuma, residents here may eventually start getting them.

The fake emails are referencing an invoice and payment due to the city for records the recipient was supposedly to have requested or received.

The emails are also being sent from an address that is intended to resemble ones used by the city of Yuma in order to appear more legitimate.

These emails, however, were not sent by the city of Yuma. Based on checks conducted by the city’s Information Technology Services department, city email services have not been compromised.

Also there are no malicious/ spam/phishing emails being sent from the city email servers to the individuals who have received these messages. Rather, their accounts are being “phished.”

Phishing is a common practice in which criminals attempt to gain personal information from a person by posing as a legitimate entity over the phone, by email or by text. The personal information could potentially be used to steal from that person.

According to Yuma police, what appears to have happened is that scammers trying to defraud people of their money may have gained access to an individual’s contact list through some sort of compromise.

Once access is obtained, the scammers will then use a contact list or previously emailed contacts to make the phishing attempt appear more legitimate.

Yuma police highly recommend that anyone who receives an email such as this to immediately change the password to their email account.

Also, if that password is reused for other accounts (such as a banking account, other email accounts, or social media), they also need to be changed as soon as possible.

As a best practice, the city wants to remind the community to never open email attachments or click on links in emails from unknown entities that you are not expecting.

The vast majority of these phishing scams originate outside the United States in countries where criminal investigation, extradition and prosecution is very problematic and, at times, non-existent.