Fraudulent Email:
FDIC Warning

Credit unions report their members are receiving emails that fraudulently claim to be from the FDIC, and these emails attempt to obtain highly sensitive personal information, including bank account information. These emails falsely indicate that FDIC deposit insurance is suspended until the requested customer information is provided.

Joint Release from the FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION and FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: At approximately 12:00 p.m. (EST) on January 23, 2004, FDIC Consumer Call Centers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Washington, D.C., began receiving a large number of complaints by consumers who received an email that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. The email informs the recipient that Department of Homeland Security Director, Tom Ridge has advised the FDIC to suspend all deposit insurance on the recipient's bank account due to suspected violations of the USA PATRIOT Act. The email further indicates that deposit insurance will be suspended until personal identity, including bank account information, can be verified.

This email was not sent by the FDIC and is a fraudulent attempt to obtain personal information from consumers. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT access the link provided within the body of the email and should NOT under any circumstances provide any personal information through this media.

The FDIC and the FBI are attempting to identify the source of the emails and disrupt the transmission. Until this is achieved, consumers are asked to report any similar attempts to obtain this information to the FDIC by sending information to alert@fdic.gov.

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it is enough to suspect that currency violations may have occurred in your account and due to this activity we have withdrawn Federal Deposit Insurance on your account until we verify that your account has not been used in a violation of the Patriot Act.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. [Email then provides a link to a site in order to obtain personal account information.]
     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

Preventative Methods

1. Members should NOT access the link provided within the body of the email.
2. Members should NOT under any circumstances provide any personal information through this media.
3. If a member did respond to the email with personal information, he or she may become an identity theft victim. The member should do the following:

• Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file.The fraud alert requests creditors to contact the member before opening any new accounts or making any changes to his/her existing accounts. As soon as the credit bureau confirms the members fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will be automatically notified to place fraud alerts, and all three credit reports will be sent to the victim free of charge.
• Close the accounts that are known or believed have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
• Use the ID Theft Affidavit when disputing new unauthorized accounts.
• File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.
• File a complaint with the FTC. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/widtpubl$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU03