District courts nationwide have received reports from attorneys receiving emails purporting to be from the United States District Court. The emails are originating from email addresses with the domain name "uscourts.gov.ecf.digital," are representing themselves as Notices of Electronic Filing, and indicate that the attorney is required to provide a response. This is an example:
Subject: NOTICE OF ELECTRONIC FILING [NEF] – [Firm name]
***** IMPORTANT NOTICE - READ THIS INFORMATION *****
NOTICE OF ELECTRONIC FILING [NEF]________________________________
To: [Firm name]
Receiver: [Attorney name] [(Attorney email address)]
Official File Stamp:11-6-2024
Notification Date:11-6-2024
Court: US DistrictAttn: [Attorney name]
The attached filing has been submitted to the court.
The Case and filing information are in the filing document.
You're required to provide a response to the filing by Wednesday November 6th, 2024.
You may review this filing by following the information in the attached file.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
United States District Court.
These fake NEFs are phishing attempts to convince recipients to respond back to the emails. Once a recipient replies to the email, they are sent a follow-up email containing a link to access a document that leads the user to a malicious website. If you receive an email as described above, DO NOT REPLY. Please treat the email as spam (e.g., do not click on any links or open any attachments).
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts has been notified of the situation, and they are investigating.