Security News > 2020 > October > Iran sent threatening pro-Trump emails to American Democrats, Russia close behind, says US intelligence

Menacing emails to Democratic voters, telling them to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming US elections or else, were sent by Iran, US intelligence claimed on Wednesday night.

At a press conference tonight, Uncle Sam's Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said the messages were actually sent by Iranian agents, who had obtained US voter records, including contact details, seemingly to intimidate Americans.

Some of the threatening messages including a video that attempted to explain how to vote more than once, and the emails also made claims about America's "Entire voting infrastructure" being compromised, though that's an obvious lie to sow doubt in people's minds.

"As we enter the last weeks before the election, we urge every American - including members of the media - to be cautious about believing or spreading unverified, sensational claims related to votes and voting," the pair said in a statement.

Google confirmed on Thursday shenanigans were afoot by Iran: the web giant told reporters "25,000 emails were sent to Gmail users in a suspected Iranian campaign targeting the 2020 election." Google also claimed its spam filters caught 90 per cent of that, meaning about 2,500 messages got through to voters.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/10/22/iran_russia_emails/