Spam email targets UK police force with denial-of-service attack

Malicious spammers have hit Cambridgeshire police with a denial of service attack by threatening recipients of the email to charge their credit cards unless they call a 'customer service' number that is actually the main switchboard number for the force.

silicon.com was alerted to the attack by several readers who received the spam email this morning, which claims to come from a non-existent company called "Huntingdon Mail Order" with the subject line "transaction receipt". It says the recipient's credit card is about to be billed for £399.95 for a 40GB iPod MP3 player.

But the customer service number listed at the end of the email, with the quite deliberate aim that concerned recipients will call it, is that of Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

A reply email address given in the spam is for "ukcards.com", which appears to be a portal with links to various finance, loan and gambling websites.

The Cambridgeshire police switchboard was engaged several times when silicon.com tried to call the number and when we finally got through an operator confirmed they had been inundated with calls about a credit card transaction.

Cambridgeshire Deputy Chief Constable Alan Given advised people not to ring the number on the email.

"This appears to be a deliberate attempt to affect the service provided by the force," he said. "However, you should monitor your bank statement and if a similar amount is taken from it, contact your local force as soon as possible. It is too early to say who might be behind this or why they are doing it, but we will obviously be investigating."

The latest attack signals an alarming shift in tactics by spammers who earlier this week targeted anti-spam organisation SpamHaus with a similar email.