Just got the craziest email- need some help.

[CrackityJones75]

I just got this random email from Mark Korin who is a local GOP chair here in MN? Anyways the email came with a spreadsheet that I am not planning to open but apparently it contains some list?

At first I thought it was just some spam but it seems like I may have accidentally been forwarded something. Thoughts?

Email below………….


[e-mail] wrote:
This is what I just received

Mark



Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S10+, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone



-------- Original message --------
From: Andrew Aplikowski
Date: 2/22/22 5:45 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: SD 31 Data Help Please

Attached you will find the list of 2022 Caucus Attendees that the State Party received from your area.

We need your help to verify this information. Many BPOUs sent us hand written data that we had to transcribe, improperly formatted, or missing some key fields.

Please look it over to make sure that it is complete and correct.

Do Del/Alt’s match the PCRCs that were signed on Caucus night.
Officers elected
Names
Phone
Email
Full Precinct name (not SOS code)
And most importantly, addresses!
1) Is the address correct
2) And is that address in the right precinct


NOTE: Please return the data in the same format you received. Any lists submitted with previous cycle data or alternate formats will be discarded.

Please return the cleaned list by 8:00AM Friday February 25th. I understand this is a short window, but we are rushing to get accurate lists to Statewide, Congressional, and Legislative candidates seeking endorsement. You may need to solicit help from your Committee members.

Thank you and please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Andy Aplikowski
Political Director
MNGOP
612-916-3232

[Wingus Dingus]

1. Sounds like regular party business that you received by accident?

Weird that you got it, but not seeing anything sinister.

[ForgedCrank]

3. That has happened

to me several times. If you send a message to a local leader for pretty much any reason, you'll get on their mail-to list.
You can send them a message telling them to fall off a cliff and you'll start getting campaign crap from them. It's quite annoying.

[CrackityJones75]

5. Right.

This just didn’t seem like ordinary campaign material.

[ForgedCrank]

14. I wonder if it's

that someone pulled a boner and picked the wrong group to send an email to people who shouldn't see it?
That would be hilarious.

[DemocraticPatriot]

19. Always good to get "inside party communications" from the enemy

so that they can be exposed to the patriots at-large....

[CrackityJones75]

4. Yeah I don't know that it is sinister

BUT it never hurts to check!

I don’t really know what the lists are that he is talking about. The Del/alts part made me think it was talking about a delete list.

[DemocraticPatriot]

20. so just scan the file with virus-ware before you open it...

[Ocelot II]

2. The phone number seems to be legit -

it really is Andy Aplikowski's business number. https://handybulldog.com/?page_id=10

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Well, I'd thank him for sharing the data....

{no need to open unless you scan it first}You can forward to the appropriate Democratic campaign/local group that might find this of interest.

But I'd send a return email asking if the data is pre-scrub?

Make sure you copy everyone cc'd. This might spark some interesting communications.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. What do you need help with?

[CrackityJones75]

8. Wondering what the lists are that he is talking about.

I shoukd have mentioned that.

The spreadsheet appears to be some sort of list but not sure what the acronyms are that he refers to.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. .

BPOU = Basic Political Organizing Unit
Del/Alt = delegates and alternates
PCRC = Precinct Caucus Record and Certificate (of Election)

[CrackityJones75]

10. Ah ok thanks!

[Ohio Joe]

11. OK... So a couple of things...

First - If the attachment type is '.exe' don't open it. If it is something like XLS or XLSX then it is an Excel spreadsheet which would be good to contain a list. Another very good candidate would be a Word document... Those extensions are DOC & DOCX. Pretty much any other extension and I'd not play with it.


Second - You can download free antivirus software, I suggest malwarebytes:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/solutions/virus-scanner

Have it downloaded, installed and running before you remove the attachment from the email and open it.

Third - If you get through this and are successful... Whatever you do, do not 'clean' the list (as requested in the email sent to you) yourself and send it back with fake information on it... Do not use the emails to sign them up for every spammer/scammer under the sun... Don't copy and paste the info to places like 4chan/8chan. Any of these things might cause you a moments reflection that would pass.

[canetoad]

12. I'd be sending him a cheery email

Thanking him for the confidential information and suggesting he be more careful in future.

[vanlassie]

17. No. Lay low and hope for more.

[canetoad]

18. You're devious

[jmbar2]

13. Send it to a liberal newspaper reporter

Ask them to check it out.

[jmowreader]

15. Could the Minnesota Democratic Party possibly use this email and attachments?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. You got this from Mark Korin?

[CrackityJones75]

24. Yes.

[DemocraticPatriot]

21. After appropriate virus-scans, be sure to republish the whole thing here

Republicans deserve to be DOXXED

[Turbineguy]

22. There's a new malware

that is transmitted through MS Word or Excel files. If you click on "Enable Editing" you execute the infect command.

Just be careful.

[CrackityJones75]

26. Yeah I am always highly suspicious.

[JesterCS]

23. isnt anything from an R spam anyway? n/t

[CrackityJones75]

25. True

[alphafemale]

27. This could be useful if some people hit Reply All

Just sayin'