The Illinois Shines Program Administrator has been alerted to phishing attempts sent via email last week to Approved Vendors and Designees. The message attempted to represent that the sender was from the Illinois Power Agency (“IPA”) Chief Legal Counsel Kelly Turner, spoof the sender address as coming from “[email protected]”, and urge recipients to review information from the government and bid/contracts in an attached PDF. The email [email protected] is valid. The email in the phishing attempt ended in “.work” which is not a valid email from the Program or IPA. Valid emails will be from an email that ends in “illinois.gov” or “energy-solution.com”. More information can be found at https://ipa.illinois.gov/contact-us/freedom-of-information-act–foia–.html.
These emails have not been sent from the Program or the IPA and are not legitimate notices. They should not be responded to, and recipients should not click the link(s) in the message. These emails look official, as they include the Illinois Shines/IPA logos and the spoofed sender address, but phishing emails are fraudulent messages that attempt to deceive recipients into providing sensitive information, or installing malware (such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware) by clicking on links or replying to the message. Like other phishing attempts, they include unusual sender domains, a link going to a non-Illinois Shines site or attachments that should not be clicked, and other suspicious language and format. Although this email may appear legitimate, it is not. If you clicked the attachment in the phishing email (or are unsure if you may have) and if you believe you subsequently shared Program Portal credentials, please alert the Program Administrator and change your Program Portal password immediately.
The Program thanks stakeholders for alerting the Program Administrator to these emails, and recommends individual recipients contact their company’s system administrators to report the messages. More information regarding this phishing attempt will be provided after the Program further investigates these issues.
Should you have any questions, please contact the Program at [email protected] or (877) 783-1820.
Thank you!
Illinois Shines Program
[email protected]
