Victoria Police warn of malware-laden USB sticks in letterboxes

Police in the Australian State of Victoria have warned citizens not to trust un-marked USB sticks that appear in their letterboxes.

The warning, issued today, says “The USB drives are believed to be extremely harmful and members of the public are urged to avoid plugging them into their computers or other devices.”

“Upon inserting the USB drives into their computers victims have experienced fraudulent media streaming service offers, as well as other serious issues.”

Only the suburb of Pakenham in Victoria's capital Melbourne has experienced the dodgy stick drop, but Victoria Police nonetheless saw fit to issue a state-wide alert.

The Register is utterly un-surprised that some people plugged in the drives, as we've previously reported that half of people who find a USB stick in a carpark will plug it in and a USBs-left-in-car-parks phishing scam. And who could forget the attempt at industrial espionage that saw USB sticks left in the parking lot of Dutch chemical giant DSM?

The latter two attacks were targeted. Pakenham, however, is an unremarkable outer suburb. Perhaps the perps behind this USB drop had a particular target in mind. Or perhaps USB sticks are now so cheap, and the profits to be had from cracking even home computers so large, that scattering a few dozen sticks is a crime that pays? ®