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HAFISO Advisory: Exercise Caution as Cybercriminals Capitalize on Times of Uncertainty

FBI Special Agent Liam McGrail of the Honolulu Field Office requested that the following advisory be sent to HAFISO participants. Please contact via FBI Honolulu Field Office should you have any questions. Please stay Safe and Healthy! 

With the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the United States, there has been an increase in the number of individuals who are either telecommuting or experiencing modified work schedules on the Hawaiian Islands. Cybercriminals are continuing to exploit this situation, specifically through email phishing and social engineering.

The FBI is already seeing an increase in email phishing attempts, business email compromises, and work-from-home scams capitalizing on the outbreak. It is expected the Hawaiian Islands will see an increase in business email compromises, as well as the recruitment of both witting and unwitting money mules using Hawaiian financial institutions.

In the majority of these cases, funds are rapidly moved overseas before recovery can occur. We encourage everyone to be vigilant and report suspicious activity, individuals, and transactions as soon as possible to law enforcement in order to increase the chances of successful disruption of money mule networks and recovery of stolen funds.

Please contact FBI Special Agent Liam McGrail at the Honolulu Field Office for any questions or concerns.

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