Thanks for the support and helpful suggestions. For those who
suggested this be reported to "authorities", let me add a little
background.
I almost deleted the email as part of the 500+ spam hits I get per
day. I was going to ignore it. The next morning the potential misuse
bothered me. Despite the inconvenience I should at least report the
possible phishing for the sake of my fellow citizens, if not the
government itself.
I called the office of Rep. Charles Bass, explained to the fellow,
and asked him to confirm that it was legitimate or report it. He said
he was not quite sure what to do and would call back.
About an hour later, he told me "When you have complaints about
email call the Consumer Protection Agency. They investigate such
things." I don't think he "got it". Anyway, who knows. I will call
them. Calling intermittently over 3 hours, the line was always busy.
The Bureau of Export Enforcement, part of the Dept. of Commerce, has
very professional agents, and I had been involved in setting up a sting
with them a few years ago. So I called the agent's number.
There are good people in the government, it is just a matter of
finding them. A new fellow answered, but he immediately got serious,
checking the names against the given numbers; the names and numbers
were good. But, he suggested that the calls might get diverted or the
phisher might count on getting most of the info before the BIS realized
why they were getting the calls.
He sent me a "test" email to which I "replied" with the original
email attached. He would check it out.
In the meantime I get a call from a person claiming to be one of
those mentioned in the email. He wanted to know if I had received an
email requesting information. (They are checking URL's downloading the
embedded html graphics, I thought; I had read the html in text.)
To see where the emphasis was, I told the guy that I manufactured IR
equipment, but it was not useful for military purposes. Must I report
anyway? "No, you are 'absolved'; ignore the request."
The agent forwarded me an email chastising the Statistics Department
for using email for surveys.
I thought that was the end of it until I got the email of the
earlier post.
* * * * * * *
If you sleep soundly at night assuming your government is
competently protecting you, this indicates that you are only partially
justified.
Jim Kuzdrall
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