Scam Emails Impersonating IC3 on the Roll

Theregister.co.uk published a report on 25th September, 2014 stating that Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in US backed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI has issued advisory warning that email fraudsters are emulating it to extract money from innocent punters.

Besides the FBI, the IC3 is also supported by the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

The fake emails say that a criminal statement was filed on the name and SSN (social security number) of the victim and legal papers are pending. Scammers emulate an employee of IC3 to enhance credibility and threat to take lawful action to create urgency. Victims are strictly ordered to contact the fraudsters within one or two days of their receiving the email, failing which an arrest warrant shall be received by them.

Some victims said that they were provided more details about the 'criminal charges' to include violations of federal banking regulations, theft deception and collateral check fraud. Other victims claimed that their address was correct but social security number was wrong. Those victims who requested for more information from scammers were asked to obtain prepaid money cards to avoid legal action. Victims have reported this scam to several states.

The IC3 advisory notes that it never sends such electronic mails and never demands money to resolve outstanding charges. Anyone receiving such emails is asked to report to e-crimefighters so that necessary investigations can be undertaken.

The scam emails comes at a time when IC3 brands its dissatisfied current or former Information Technology employees as a "cyber threat" to US businesses. Several significant investigations by FBI revealed that such employees exploited business networks and servers and used their access to destroy data, obtain customer information, steal proprietary software, purchase unauthorized goods and services using customer accounts and gain competitive edge at a new company.

The government of US has been extra cautious about internal security threats caused by its own discontented employees because former contractor of NSA (National Security Agency) Edward Snowden and the US Army's Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning publicly leaked masses of sensitive and classified information.

» SPAMfighter News - 10/6/2014