Rhode Islander Charged with Phishing Political Candidates

A woman from Rhode Island has been charged with impersonating Microsoft to steal personal information from political candidates and their campaign staff. 

Cranston resident Diana Lebeau allegedly sent phishing emails to approximately 22 members of the campaign staff of a candidate for political office in or around January 2020. 

In the emails, the 21-year-old allegedly posed as either the campaign’s managers or one of the campaign’s co-chairs. Recipients were directed to enter their account login details into an attached spreadsheet, or to click on a link that took them to a Google Form that requested the same credentials.

Lebeau is further accused of sending several phishing emails to the political candidate’s spouse and to colleagues at the spouse’s workplace. In these emails, Lebeau allegedly impersonated Microsoft’s Security Team or an employee of the workplace’s technology helpdesk.

Recipients were asked to add their account credentials to spreadsheets attached to the emails or were asked to enter sensitive data on a website spoofing that of the spouse’s employer.

In March 2020, Lebeau allegedly launched another phishing campaign targeting a different candidate for political office. Lebeau is accused of impersonating the candidate’s cable and internet provider over email to steal the candidate’s account credentials. 

She is further accused of impersonating this candidate in online chats with the same cable and internet provider, as a ruse to reset and obtain the candidate’s account password.

According to the charging document, Lebeau's alleged actions were not motivated ..

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