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FBI SPAM EMAIL SCAM
October 26, 2006 |
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The Office of the Tulare County District
Attorney, Phil Cline, District Attorney, White Collar Crime Unit,
Consumer Fraud Unit, the Elder Abuse Prosecution Program and the Elder
Abuse Advocacy and Outreach Program issue the following warning:
We have become aware of a bogus spam e-mail claiming to
be from FBI Director Robert Mueller III. This scam appears to be a
typical Nigerian scam; however, the attempt to defraud victims comes in
two separate e-mails. The same e-mail address is used to deliver both
phases of the spam.
The first e-mail claims to be from FBI Director Robert
S. Mueller III. It advises recipients that they are the beneficiary of a
large sum of money and that they can claim the money by providing an FBI
Identification Record and a Certificate of Ownership. To make the
message look more legitimate, information is pasted in the e-mail from
the FBI.gov web site defining what an Identification Record is and how
to obtain it from the Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
The second e-mail claims to be from Donna M. Uzzell,
FBI Compact Council Chairman. The message informs the recipient the
Certificate of Ownership is supplied, for a fee, by the country where
the funds originated. It requires the recipient to respond to the e-mail
for instructions on sending the money to FBI Nigeria, which then will
issue the certificate.
At this point the message becomes more threatening, stating the FBI has
investigative programs which can track down those who fail to provide
the requested documentation. It further states failure to comply will
result in charges being brought against the individual by the FBI.
THIS EMAIL IS A HOAX. DO NOT RESPOND. If
you receive such an email contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center at
http://www.ic3.gov/
In general we recommend anyone receiving such emails or
any phone calls requesting financial/personal information to not respond
in any manner. Social Security Numbers, banking information such as
account numbers, routing numbers and next of kin are the open doors for
criminals to electronically steal money and identity. Such information
should never be given to persons or companies whom you do not have a
trusted relationship. We further recommend if you are contacted by mail,
email or over the phone about your bank account give no information,
personally contact your banking institution and call your local police
department, the Sheriff’s Department, or the District Attorney’s Office.
If you are a senior citizen, in addition, you may also call Tulare
County Adult Protective Services (559) 733-6585 or the District
Attorney’s Office Elder Abuse Unit at (559) 733-6754. More information
may be obtained by calling the District Attorney’s Elder Abuse Advocacy
and Outreach Program at 559-733-6754.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation,
http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest//escams.htm
Contact Person: WILLIAM YOSHIMOTO
Supervising Attorney
(559) 624-1054
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U.S. SOLDIER PHISHING SCAM
May 17, 2006 |
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The Office of the Tulare County District
Attorney, Phil Cline, District Attorney, White Collar Crime Unit,
Consumer Fraud Unit, the Elder Abuse Prosecution Program and the Elder
Abuse Advocacy and Outreach Program issue the following warning: emails
from a person posing as a U.S. Soldier in Iraq have been received by
numerous persons in the United States. An email purporting to be from
Sgt. 1st Class Frank V. Edmonds of the 3rd Infantry offers what has come
to be known as the “Nigerian” scam. He says he has come into possession
of a very large sum of money taken in a raid of Saddam Hussein’s
compound in Takrit and needs a way to get the monies back to the United
States. The email talks of the illegality of such a transaction but
plays on the sympathy of Americans by mentioning the sacrifice and
horror of serving in Iraq concluding with this money being partial
compensation for such service. Quoting from the letter: “I do not know
how long we will remain here, and I have been shot, wounded and survived
two suicide bomb attacks by the special grad (sic) of God. This and
other reasons I will mention later has prompted me to reach out for
help. I honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately, please
contact me as soon as possible.”
Based on this appeal, the recipient is asked to provide banking
information so a wire transfer of funds can be accomplished. As in all
Nigerian scams, the offer of sharing the money is made for the use of
the bank account for the transfer. This is a “phishing” scam and will
result in identity theft. The banking information will be used to steal
funds in the account.
We recommend anyone receiving such emails to not respond in any manner.
Social Security Numbers, banking information such as account numbers,
routing numbers and next of kin are the open doors for criminals to
electronically steal money and identity. Such information should never
be given to persons or companies whom you do not have a trusted
relationship. We further recommend if you are contacted by mail, email
or over the phone about your bank account give no information,
personally contact your banking institution and call your local police
department, the Sheriff’s Department, or the District Attorney’s Office.
If you are a senior citizen, in addition, you may also call Tulare
County Adult Protective Services (559) 733-6585 or the District
Attorney’s Office Elder Abuse Unit at (559) 733-6754. More information
may be obtained by calling the District Attorney’s Elder Abuse Advocacy
and Outreach Program at 559-733-6754.
Contact Person:
WILLIAM YOSHIMOTO
Supervising Attorney
(559) 624-1054 |
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>>>
Press Release from the
Office of the Tulare County District Attorney |
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JURY
DUTY SCAM
April 19, 2006 |
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Most of us take those summons for jury duty
seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new
and ominous kind of scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity
could be stolen, reports CBS.
In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who
threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you
didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury
coordinator.
If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the
scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he
or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant.
Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this
information and bingo! Your identity just got stolen.
The scam has been reported so far in 11 states.
This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over
the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending
they're with the court system. |
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>>>
Press Release from the
Office of the Tulare County District Attorney |
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INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (IRS) FRAUD ALERT
March 16, 2006 |
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The IRS has issued a consumer alert, warning
against phishing scams using the IRS logo. Recent scams have been
circulating via email as criminals attempt to gain personal information
from recipients. For more information on this scam and ways to protect
yourself, read
more.
An excerpt from
www.irs.gov:
To protect against potential
identity thieves, take the following steps:
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Be skeptical of communications you
receive from sources you are not expecting. Verify the authenticity
of phone calls, standard mail, faxes or e-mails of questionable
origin before responding.
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Do not reveal secret passwords, PINs or
other security-based data to third parties; genuine organizations or
institutions do not need your secret data for ordinary business
transactions.
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Do not click on links contained in
possibly questionable e-mails; instead, go directly to the site
already know to be genuine. For example, the only address for the
IRS Web site is www.irs.gov — any other variations on this will not
lead to the legitimate IRS Web site.
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Do not open attachments to e-mails of
possibly questionable origin, since they may contain viruses that
will infect your computer.
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Shred paper documents containing private
financial information before discarding.
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TSUNAMI DISASTER RELIEF FRAUD ALERT
January 5, 2005 |
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For Immediate
Release
January 5, 2005 |
Washington
D.C.
FBI
National Press Office |
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Washington, D.C.
- The FBI today is alerting the public to a variety of scams currently
being facilitated online involving the solicitation of additional relief
funds for the victims of the recent Tsunami disaster. The FBI, through
the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), has received reports of
websites being established purportedly to assist with collection and
relief efforts. Complaints submitted to the IC3 have identified several
schemes that involve both unsolicited in-coming emails (SPAM), as well
as reports of responses to posted email addresses, to assist for a fee,
in locating loved ones who may have been a victim of the disaster. A
fraudulent relief donation website has also been detected containing an
imbedded Trojan exploit which can infect the user's computer with a
virus if accessed.
The FBI, in
conjunction with domestic with international law enforcement and
industry partners, take seriously these egregious actions and are
resolved to aggressively pursuing those who would attempt to victimize
philanthropic individuals.
The IC3 is
cautioning citizens against participating in this type of on-line
correspondence. Consistent with previous guidance on incidents of
Phishing/Spoofing and Identity Theft, when considering on-line options
for providing funding to this relief effort consumers should consider
the following:
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Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming
emails.
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Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving
victims or foreign government officials asking for help in placing
large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.
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To ensure that contributions to
U.S. based non-profit organizations
are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charities
and aid organizations websites, as opposed to following a link to
another site.
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Attempt to verify the legitimacy of non-profit
organizations by utilizing various Internet based resources which
may assist in confirming the existence of the organization as well
as its non-profit status.
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Be leery of emails that claim to show pictures of the
disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses.
Only open attachments from know senders.
Several variations
of this scam are currently in circulation. Anyone who has received an
email referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a
victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via the
website, www.ic3.gov. |
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Related Links: |
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Better Business Bureau
www.bbbonline.org |
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Federal Consumer Information Center
www.pueblo.gsa.gov |
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Federal Trade Commission
www.consumer.gov/idtheft/index.html |
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