At HV Shred, one of our goals with this Blog is to keep our community informed of the latest scams. Last month, the FBI reported that it was continuing to receive reports of spam e-mails that use FBI officials’ names and titles in online fraud schemes. Although there are different variations of these schemes, recipients are typically notified they have received a large sum of money. The latest round of e-mails uses the name of new FBI Director James B. Comey.
Some of the e-mails reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center continue to use the alleged “Anti Terrorist & Monetary Crimes Division” of the FBI. All e-mails encourage the recipient to send money for various reasons.
Do not respond. These e-mails are a hoax.
As a best practice, neither government agencies nor government officials send unsolicited e-mail to members of the public. United States government agencies use the legal process to contact individuals.
The public should not respond to any unsolicited e-mails or click on embedded links in these messages because they may contain viruses or malicious software.
If you have received a message that purports to be from the FBI, disregard its instructions and file a complaint at www.IC3.gov
For more information on best practices to stay safe from Identity Theft, please visit www.hvshred.com