Virginia Woman's Inbox Flooded with Over 600 Emails as Part of Fraudulent Scheme
A Virginia woman recently became the victim of an email bombing scam, where over 600 emails flooded her inbox. The attack was designed to obscure a critical bank alert about a $1,200 fraudulent laptop purchase made on her account. Cybersecurity experts refer to this tactic as 'email bombing' or 'subscription bombing,' which involves signing up the victim's email for numerous newsletters and services in an automated fashion. The overwhelming volume of emails came from legitimate-looking organizations such as charities and small businesses, making it difficult to identify spam filters. The scammer used the chaos to hide a genuine fraud alert from her bank among hundreds of other messages. Such attacks can deliver over 1,500 emails per hour according to Proofpoint, burying important alerts in minutes. Victims are advised to check their financial accounts for unauthorized activity and look through suspicious emails for keywords like 'fraud' or the name of a financial institution. Scammers may follow up by posing as tech support offering help at an additional cost.
