[Previous entry: "We have all the freedoms we ever had (aka photographing federal buildings)"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Jim Davidson arrested"]

01/23/2004 Archived Entry: "E-mail scam from "Department of Homeland Security""

NOT THAT ANYBODY AROUND HERE WOULD BE DUMB ENOUGH TO FALL FOR IT, but since we've all had to become professional paranoids about our financial doings, here's the latest e-mail scam (behind the "more" link). The message purports to be from the FDIC in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security. It tells us our bank account has been used to violate the Patriot Act. It threatens to turn our records over to the FBI. We're supposed to get all alarmed and do something really stoo-pid.

You wouldn't. Of course. But it sure shows you what kind of country the Busheviks are creating, where innocent people really believe they might be reported to the FBI ... because innocent people really are reported to the FBI. All the time. For even dumber reasons than the ones invented by the scam-mailers.

This came from Ben Dover and his Dose of Dover mail list:

!!! URGENT !!! URGENT !!! URGENT !!!

Alert Posted Friday, January 23, 2004 @ 4:10pm CT: There is a new scam
that has surfaced this afternoon in e-mails around the world that you
need to not only be aware of, but let other (potentially more gullible)
bank account holders in on so they don't end up on the victim's list.

DO NOT BITE on the following e-mail, supposedly originating from the
FDIC:

To Whom It May Concern:

In cooperation with the Department Of Homeland Security, Federal, State
and Local Governments your account has been denied insurance from the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation due to suspected violations of the
Patriot Act. While we have only a limited amount of evidence gathered on
your account at this time it is enough to suspect that currency
violations may have occurred in your account and due to this activity we
have withdrawn Federal Deposit Insurance on your account until we verify
that your account has not been used in a violation of the Patriot Act.

As a result, Department Of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge has
advised the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to suspend all deposit
insurance on your account until such time as we can verify your identity
and your account information.

Please verify through our IDVerify below. This information will be
checked against a federal government database for identity verification.
This only takes up to a minute and when we have verified your identity
you will be notified of said verification and all suspensions of
insurance on your account will be lifted.

http://www.fdic.gov/idverify/cgi-bin/index.htm

Failure to use IDVerify below will cause all insurance for your account
to be terminated and all records of your account history will be sent to
the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington D.C. for analysis and
verification. Failure to provide proper identity may also result in a
visit from Local, State or Federal Government or Homeland Security
Officials.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Donald E. Powell
Chairman Emeritus FDIC

John D. Hawke, Jr.
Comptroller of the Currency

Michael E. Bartell
Chief Information Officer

Posted by Claire @ 04:56 PM CST
Link