Essential Phone phishing scam: Wrongdoers try to steal customers' sensitive data through email
It seems that select to-be adopters of the Essential Phone have fallen victims to a lowly phishing scam. Wrongdoers, posing as Essential Products Customer Care, have tried to acquir pictures of official document—driver’s license, state ID, or passport— from customers, leading them to believe that said documents need to be presented in order to validate their Essential Phone orders.
The scam email has been sent from customercare@essential.com, which would seem like it would be a legitimate email of Essential. However, the company's customer support email is support@essentialsupport.zendesk.com, which is the reason why people fell for the scam in the first place. The fact that the scammers have gained access to a ton of customer emails heavily implies that Essential has also been a victim of a hacker attack or a security leak over at Andy Rubin's company.
#essentialphone people are incompetent!! here's what's in my inbox. Most of it is someone's personal data - IDs, addresses, etc. @essentialpic.twitter.com/8qkcTPbwPz
— Eugene Bogorad (@Bogorad) August 30, 2017
Here follows the full body of the email scam, sent by customercare@essential.com:
Hi,
Our order review team requires additional verifying information to complete the processing of your recent order.
This verification is performed to protect against unauthorized use of your payment information and similar to what is conducted for in-person purchases.
Please provide an alternative email and phone number to confirm this purchase.
We would like to request a picture of a photo ID (e.g. driver’s license, state ID, passport) clearly showing your photo, signature and address. NOTE: the address on the ID should match the billing address listed on your recent order.We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.
Once verified, we look forward to shipping your order.
Thanks!
Essential Products Customer Care
Our order review team requires additional verifying information to complete the processing of your recent order.
This verification is performed to protect against unauthorized use of your payment information and similar to what is conducted for in-person purchases.
Please provide an alternative email and phone number to confirm this purchase.
We would like to request a picture of a photo ID (e.g. driver’s license, state ID, passport) clearly showing your photo, signature and address. NOTE: the address on the ID should match the billing address listed on your recent order.We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.
Once verified, we look forward to shipping your order.
Thanks!
Essential Products Customer Care
Essential has revealed it's aware of the scam and is working towards resolving the issue. "We’re aware of & looking into a recent e-mail received by some customers. We’ve taken steps to mitigate & will update with more info soon," the company said on Twitter.
We’re aware of & looking into a recent e-mail received by some customers. We’ve taken steps to mitigate & will update with more info soon.
— Essential (@essential) August 30, 2017
If you have received such an email, don't reply, and most importantly, never share your personal identity documents over the Internet, especially in such suspicious circumstances.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: