New Email Hoax Targets FBI Officials

The Internet Crime Complaint Center announced today that officials and high ranking members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are being targeted by a new spam attack that uses specific names of members and divisions within the agency to trick recipients into opening emails.

According to IC3, the email alerts the recipient that two “trunk boxes” containing large sums of money were intercepted at an international airport…

Blackmail Email Scam Targets Physicians

The FBI’s cyber crime center is warning about an email scam that targets doctors and attempts to extort them, claiming that if they do not pay up, their reputation and business will suffer.

Since March 5, 2011, the Internet Crime Complaint Center has received more than 50 complaints reporting extortion emails targeting professionals, mainly physicians. Victims were told complaints had been filed against them and posted online, claiming…

Scammers Target Love-lorn Online Daters

IC3, the FBI’s cyber crime center, is warning the public to be cautious of romance scams in which scammers target individuals looking for love or friendship online.

Scammers prowl chat rooms, dating sites and social networking sites looking for victims, who typically are 40 years old and divorced, widowed, elderly or disabled.

To reel in victims, scammers use poetry, flowers and other gifts, all while declaring their “undying love,”

Achy, Breaky Bank Account: Scamming Romeos Lure Women out of Cash

Women, if you are into online dating instead of meeting a potential Romeo in a bar, take note: FBI’s cyber complaint center IC3 is warning about a scam in which certain web Lotharios are after much more than just your heart.

Generally, romance scams entail a fraudster asking potential victims to wire funds for various reasons. In this new, updated version of the ploy, scammers are claiming affiliation with…

Florida Tops List of Cyber Crime Hotspots

Florida may be known for its perpetual beautiful weather, but a new report ranking the state as the one of the top spots for cyber crime could add gloom to the Sunshine State.

The economic downturn has pushed Florida to one of the top spots in the nation for Internet crime, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported the state finished second in the nation in the…

New Scam Targets Online Sellers

The FBI’s cyber complaint center has released a report warning about a new scam that targets sellers on online marketplace websites.

According to IC3, this new ploy aims to swindle consumers who sell merchandise on the Internet by generating fake receipts. This receipt generator is an executable file that has been circulating on hacking forums recently, the center said.

The receipt generator asks the would-be victim to disclose information about…

‘Relentless’ Crooks Pull a Fast One with Payday Loan Scam

Criminals posing as FBI representatives and lawyers are scamming consumers in a payday loan phone collection scam, according to IC3, the FBI’s cyber crime center.

In this scam, a caller claims the victim is delinquent in a payday loan and has to immediately pay up to avoid legal consequences. The callers, who say they represent the FBI, various law firms, or other legitimate-sounding agencies, claim to be collecting debts…

FBI’s Cyber Crime Complaint Center Logs Two Million Entries

The FBI’s cyber crime complaint center has logged its two-millionth consumer complaint about online criminal activity.

Launched in May 2000, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as IC3, is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The center received its one millionth complaint seven years after its inception,…

Facebook Message Saying Robbed and Stranded? Don’t Fall For It, Says FBI

FBI’s cyber-crime complaint center IC3 continues to receive reports of email or social-networking accounts being compromised and used in a social-engineering scam to swindle consumers out of thousands of dollars.

Pretending to be the victim, the hacker uses victims’ account to send a message to their contacts. The notice claims the victim is in immediate need of money due to being robbed and left stranded in London or some…

FBI Releases Annual Internet Crime Report

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its 2009 Annual Internet Crime Report late last week. Complaints regarding online crime increased dramatically in the past year, experiencing a 22.3 percent increase over the previous year.

The IC3 received 336,655 complaints with an estimated total loss of $559.7 million, up by approximately $265 million from the previous year. Fraud that utilized…