Please be on alert - there's a new email scheme the FBI is warning about concerning a spam email that confirms the purchase of a computer. The email claims the person ordered the computer through an online service provider and in order to dispute the transaction they need to click on a link and provide their information. A second email scam is also going out with an attachment of the order summary. The attachment contains a virus that will infect their computer.
These emails are fraudulent. Remember to always be cautious of emails asking for personal information and never open attachments from individuals you do not trust or know.
For more information, visit The Emergency Email & Wireless Network
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What is Phishing?
The United States Department of Treasury has issued a press release regarding
recent fraudulent email schemes designed to deceive consumers into surrendering
sensitive personal information which could lead to identity theft.
Fraudulent emails, which may appear to be from government agencies, direct
recipients, such as credit union members, to websites where they are asked to verify
personal information such as name, account and credit card numbers, passwords,
social security numbers and other information. These websites often appear to be
very similar to official government sites; however, they are NOT authentic official sites
and are intended only to steal the member’s information.
These emails are part of a scam known as "phishing." Phishing is a high-tech scam
where emails are sent to consumers falsely claiming to be a legitimate company, in an
attempt to obtain non-public personal information. The emails may claim the information
is needed to assist in the fight against terrorism or some other purpose supposedly
required by law. However, NCUA (National Credit Union Administration) wants to assure
credit union members that federal financial agencies do not use email as a means of communicating requests for sensitive personal information.
In an ongoing effort to combat identity theft, several tips developed by the FTC
(Federal Trade Commission) are listed below which may help you protect yourself from becoming a victim of this latest scam.
- If you receive an email that warns you, with little or no notice, that an account of
yours will be shut down unless you reconfirm your billing information, you should not
reply or click on the link in the email. Instead, you should contact the company cited
in the email directly using a telephone number or website address you know to be
genuine.
- You should avoid emailing personal and financial information. Before submitting
financial information through a website, you should look for the "lock" icon on the
browser’s status bar. NCUA also suggests looking for "https" in the website address.
Both of these indicators signal the information is secure during transmission.
- You should review credit card and credit union account statements as soon as you
receive them to determine whether there are any unauthorized charges. If the
statement is late by more than a couple of days, you should call the credit card
company or credit union to confirm their billing address and account balances.
- You should report suspicious activity to the FTC. Send the actual spam to
uce@ftc.gov. If you believe you have been a victim of a fraudulent scheme, you
should file a complaint at www.ftc.gov, and the visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website (www.ftc.gov/idtheft) to learn how to minimize their risk of damage from the identity theft.
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