City of Idaho Falls warns of phishing scam targeting the area

The following is a news release from the City of Idaho Falls:

IDAHO FALLS — The City of Idaho Falls is warning community members about an email phishing scam in which scammers are posing as the city in an attempt to steal personal information.

Several current and former community members have reported receiving fraudulent emails that appear to come from the City of Idaho Falls or a city utility provider. The emails claim the recipient has a new invoice payment from the city and include a link to “View Invoice Payment.” The link prompts recipients to enter their Google login credentials. This is a scam.

The City of Idaho Falls, including its utilities, will not request Google login information, email passwords or other unrelated personal account credentials from customers. These messages are designed to trick recipients into providing sensitive information that can be used to access email accounts, banking information and other personal data.

At this time, it appears an outside organization’s contact list, which included email addresses and ZIP codes, may have been compromised. These messages have been reported by people who currently live in Idaho Falls, formerly lived in Idaho Falls and those who have never received utility services from the city. It does not appear that any city information system has been compromised.

If you believe you have received a similar email and provided your Google credentials in response to this scam, immediately change your passwords, enable multifactor authentication on sensitive accounts, and monitor your financial statements for suspicious activity.

The Idaho Falls Police Department encourages community members to use caution when using email, other web services, text messages or phone calls. Scammers frequently impersonate trusted organizations to gain access to personal information. Practicing skepticism and taking a moment to verify before clicking can prevent significant financial and personal harm.

What to watch for:

• Messages that create a sense of urgency, such as “Immediate action required” or “service will be disconnected.”
• Suspicious sender email addresses that do not match previous billing emails.
• Links directing you to unfamiliar or unrelated websites.
• Requests for login credentials or other personal information unrelated to the subject of the message.
• Language that does not make sense or contains grammatical errors.

What you should do:

• Do not click on links or download attachments from suspicious emails.
• Do not enter your Google, email or banking login information.
• When in doubt, contact the City of Idaho Falls or the organization directly using a trusted phone number from the organization’s official website.

Idaho Falls residents can report credit card or identity theft without a known suspect online at IdahoFallsPolice.com.