The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is issuing this announcement to inform businesses of a scam involving letters delivered in the mail from unidentified criminal actors to corporate executives, claiming to have come from a ransomware group.
FBI assesses the letters are an attempt to scam organizations into paying a ransom. The letter contains a US-based return address of “BianLian Group” originating from Boston, Massachusetts. We have not yet identified any connections between the senders and the widely-publicized BianLian ransomware and data extortion group.
Tips to Protect Yourself:
FBI recommends individuals take the following precautions:
- Notify corporate executives and the organization of the scam for awareness.
- Ensure employees are educated on what to do if they receive a ransom threat.
- If you or your organization receive one of these letters, ensure your network defenses are up to date and that there are no active alerts regarding malicious activity.
- If you discover you are a victim of BianLian ransomware, please visit our Joint Cybersecurity Awareness Bulletin for recent tactics, techniques, and procedures and indicators of compromise to help organizations protect against ransomware.
FBI requests victims report any incident to your local FBI Field Office or the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
