Glasgow Daily Times, Glasgow, KY

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November 25, 2009

FBI warns of scam

By BURTON SPEAKMAN

GLASGOW — The FBI is warning the public about an e-mail scam in which senders are stating they are from the agency.

In addition the agency is asking for help from the public by notifying them when they receive a fraudulent e-mail.

“We get several complaints a week in the Bowling Green office from individuals in southcentral Kentucky who have received emails from individuals purporting to be from the FBI. The "officials" notify the recipients they have won millions of dollars in some type of international lottery,” said James Hendricks, supervisory senior resident agent at the FBI office in Bowling Green.

Different variations of the e-mails have been sent but all ask for personally identifiable information and include some threatening and some sort of penalty or prosecution if the information is not provided. Others direct the recipient to wire transfer a few hundred dollars as a processing fee for the millions they are about to receive, he said. Another version state the e-mail recipient has allegedly extorted money and will be given a limited amount of time to refund the money or face prosecution.

Several of the versions even use the names of high-ranking officials within the FBI, according to a FBI information about the scam.

They tend to claim they are from the non-existant Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division or from an alleged FBI unit in Nigeria.

“The public needs to know the FBI does not send unsolicited emails and that everyone should guard their personal information closely,” Hendricks said.

In addition FBI executives are briefed on matter, but do not personally contact consumers. The FBI also does not send consumers threatening e-mails demanding payment for Internet crimes.

“Unfortunately these types of scams do not seem to be going away any time soon. They continue to cycle through the Internet using names of different government officials and agencies. Scammers will continue to seek new ways to gain an advantage so they can steal your money or personal information. Just don’t respond,” said Special Agent Richard Kolko, chief of the FBIs national press office in Washington D.C.

If anyone has received this e-mail, or a similar e-mail, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov. The Web site also contains additional information about this and other types of scams.

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