Scammers have used a South Australian government domain name as part of a phishing email designed to get people's personal details.
The scam email claims to be from a UK agency, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and says the person receiving the email has $US3.2 million in an unclaimed fund.
"[The amount] has been credited in your name and is currently floating in the International Banking Financial Data Base," the fraudulent message states.
"The scheme covers deposits, on-hold foreign and local payment, unclaimed lottery winnings, compensation claim, inheritance payment, insurance policies, insurance brokering, investments and mortgage arrangement."
The sender's email address is helpdesk@sa.gov.au, which includes the domain name used by state government employees and departments.
A spokesperson for the SA Government said the email address did not belong to the Government, and "the scammer in question is not using Government accounts, systems or infrastructure to carry out the scam".
The spokesperson said the use of the fake address was "akin to somebody putting a government logo on an email or letter".
The FSCS warned people late last year about scams being conducted in its name, saying "they are not authentic, and the FSCS does not approach people in this manner".
The SA Government spokesperson advised the public to "immediately delete emails from people you don't know, and from agencies or businesses that you didn't agree to receive emails from".
