Fake Government Agencies
FBI Scams - Fake Email from the FBI
Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crimes Division
"This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice
and we have thoroughly Investigated by the help of our Intelligence Monitoring
Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Imposters..."
Have you received a email from the FBI, telling you that
"This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated by the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Imposters claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria...";
then instructing you to "access
the form for your tax refund, click here"?
It is a scam. The FBI will never, never email you unless you first
contact them. They WILL NOT EVER email you to tell you you are under
investigation or for any other reason. Count on it.
This is a simple AFF scam - to try to get you to send the scammer money via
Western Union. Notice that their email address is not at the FBI! (@FBI.gov)
Sample Scam FBI Email:
CFR received the following email:
Anti-Terrorist and Monitory Crimes Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building Washington D.C Telephone
Number : (425)-296-1679
Attn: Beneficiary,
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to
our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated by the help of our
Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal
Transaction with Imposters claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the
Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke, none officials
of Oceanic Bank, none officials of Zenith Bank and imposter claiming to be
the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, it came to
our notice that the reason why you have not received your payment is because
you have not fulfill your Financial Obligation giving to you in respect of
your Contract/Inheritance Payment.
So therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry
Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem
by arranging your payment in total of US$800,000.00 in an ATM CARD which you
will use to withdraw money in anywhere of the world. You now have the lawful
right to claim your fund in the ATM CARD.
Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation is
involved in this transaction, all you did have to do is to be rest assured
for this is 100% risk free because it is our right to protect the American
Citizens. All I did want you to do is proceed and contact the ATM CARD
CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and procure your Approval
Slip on your behalf which will cost you $150.00 only and note that your
Approval Slip contains details of your PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (PIN)
which you will use in activating your ATM CARD in any ATM MACHINE.
CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: MR. PAUL SMITH
EMAIL:
atm-card-centre@live.com
Do contact Mr. Paul Smith of the ATM CARD CENTRE
with your full name, home address, mobile telephone number, home telephone
number or work telephone number and bank name so your files would be updated
after which he will send the payment informations to you which you will use
in making payment of $150.00 via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram
for the procurement of your Approval Slip after which the delivery of your
ATM CARD will be effected to your designated home address without any
further delay.
We order you get back to this office after you open
contact with the ATM SWIFT CARD CENTRE and we do await your response so we
can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to
you.
Thanks and hope to read from you soon.
FBI Director
Robert Mueller
Note: Do disregard any email you get from any
imposter or office claiming to be in possesion of your ATM CARD,
you are adviced only to be in contact with Mr. Paul Smith of the ATM CARD CENTRE who
is the rightful person you are suppose to deal with in regards your ATM CARD
PAYMENT and forward any email you get from imposters to this office so we
could act upon and commence investigation.
Review:
The link in the email (http://www.IRS.gov/refunds.php ) actually goes to
According to
Who.is,
that domain was privately registered at:
Clearly, this email and it's
associated website is criminal activity intended to steal your money!
Recommendations:
If you receive a call from this number or any group that claims to represent
a government agency, take down their information, including
the contact's name, phone number, etc. Do NOT give them any personal or
financial information, especially not a credit card, checking or bank account
number, passport number, etc.
Next, look up the direct phone or email address for the agency they
claim to represent and call them. Read them the email and ask if it could
have come from their agency.
While we don't want to encourage people to ignore correspondence from legal
government agencies, it is a safe bet that NO U.S. government agency will make
any first contact with you by email. Certainly not the FBI or IRS.
FBI
offers this advice:
If you receive an unsolicited e-mail purporting to be from FBI, take the
following steps:
-
Do not open any attachments to the e-mail, in case they contain
malicious code that will infect your computer.
-
Contact FBI at 1-800-829-1040 to determine whether IRS is trying
to contact you about a tax refund.
And please let us know about any
suspicious calls or emails you receive. We look for patterns so that we
can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!
How to Report a Tax Refund Scam Email:
If you receive a suspicious e-mail that claims to come from FBI,
- Forward it to IRS
(phishing@irs.gov and
- Send a copy to ConsumerFraudReporting.org (via
the feedback form)
- Please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint at
www.ic3.gov
and
Follow instructions in the link below for sending the bogus e-mail to ensure
that it retains critical elements found in the original e-mail. FBI can use
the information, URLs and links in the suspicious e-mails you send to trace the
hosting Web site and alert authorities to help shut down the fraudulent sites.
Unfortunately, due to the expected volume, FBI will not be able to
acknowledge receipt or respond to you.
In the United States, you may also contact:
U.S. Secret Service
Financial Crimes Division
1800 G Street, NW
Room 942
Washington, DC 20223
Phone: (202) 435–5850
Fax: (202) 435–5031
Or contact the local U.S. Secret Service Field Office.
Frequently Asked Questions - 1.13
IRS Procedures: Reporting Fraud
How to Report Abusive Tax Promotions and/or Promoters:
Complete the
referral form which documents the information necessary to report an
abusive tax avoidance scheme. The form can be mailed or faxed to FBI address
and fax number on the form.
How to Report Abusive CPAs, Attorneys or Enrolled Agents:
Report suspicious actions by tax professionals to the
email address of FBI Office of
Professional Responsibility.
Overseas
Contact the Foreign Commercial Service (FSC) at the nearest U.S.
Embassy or Consulate. If there is no FCS office, contact the American Citizens
Services Unit of the Consular Section or the Regional Security Office.
For a comprehensive list
of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.
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