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Safety

Dissecting a Scam Letter

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In 2016, over 22,000 FBI employees were victims of “doxing”. Their contact information to include job titles, employee phone numbers, states of residences, email addresses, and other information was released to the public. Over the years we have seen a more targeted retaliation towards FBI leadership, which includes individuals such as me. Scammers have used our information successfully in government impersonation scams. 

Let’s look at an example of how scammers are targeting unwitting individuals in our communities to steal money from them using their and my information and position. The above letter started going out with my name earlier this month, just two weeks after I was announced as the Special Agent in Charge for the FBI El Paso field office. As of today, my office has received eight reports of victims located in the Midwest and the Northeast. One victim reported losing $35,000 to solve her son’s identity theft case.

For many of you, you have not seen an official FBI document and if you see a classification on a document, you think it’s a legitimate document. Let me point out a few things that will help you spot the scam.

Red Flags:

  1. FBI letters to the public will not have a classification on them. You will not see UNCLASSIFIED.  You will not see “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY/LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE”.  Although these are valid classification and handling caveats, the FBI will not include them on a letter going to a member of the community.
  2. The Administrative Note explains how the FBI El Paso Division’s Field Intelligence Group has a part in this letter. This group of primarily Intelligence Analysts would not be sending you a letter about an investigative matter.
  3. The letter is labeled as a “SITUATIONAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT”. Although this is a valid form, it is only used internally for intelligence gathered in investigations, it will not be used to communicate with the public.
  4. The letter mentions “US Customs and Border Patrol”, the correct name is “US Customs and Border Protection.”
  5. The letter mentions “bank of america”, the correct name would be “Bank of America.”
  6. The FBI will not use a blue stamp that says “FBI” right above my name in a letter.
  7. The “signature” is not mine; it is a font type used to look like a signature.
  8. We would not put “Our Office” in the signature line. The office information is correct to lead you to believe I sent this out to you.

This letter is used twofold: add legitimacy to their government impersonation and financial impersonation scam and used in multiple angles to include cryptocurrency to make a person believe they are a victim of identity theft.

If you receive this letter, throw it away.  If emailed to you, delete it.  Don’t believe the initial phone calls where they provide this letter or use my name.  If they demand cryptocurrency to fix the Identity Theft situation, hang up it’s a scam. 

A true victim of identity theft should contact their financial institutions directly on the telephone numbers on the banking statement or back of your debit card, they should contact the three credit bureaus to put a freeze on their accounts so no new lines of credit can be taken out in their name. The Federal Trade Commission has valuable information at IdentityTheft.gov to help report and develop a plan to recover from identity theft.

John Morales

Special Agent in Charge, FBI El Paso

Protect the programs and systems that support what makes your organization successful and unique | SAC Jeffrey Downey, FBI El Paso

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Intellectual property theft involves robbing people or companies of their ideas, inventions, and creative expressions—known as intellectual property. This can include everything from trade secrets to Proprietary products to movies, music, and software.

 

The FBI investigates intellectual property theft in two different ways. Traditionally, the FBI looked at IP theft/theft of trade secrets (industrial espionage) as a white-collar violation under our Criminal Investigations Division. Our new approach to IP theft is an enhanced relationship between the FBI’s Criminal and Counterintelligence Divisions when working theft of trade secret cases. A trade secrets case (economic espionage) when worked under the counterintelligence program occurs when the involvement of state-sponsored actors is suspected. Our goal is to contain and/or even prevent the theft as quickly as possible, no matter who’s behind it.

In 2022, intellectual property theft cost U.S. businesses 1.12 billion dollars.

The FBI’s intellectual property investigations focus on the theft of trade secrets and copyright infringement on products that can impact people’s health and safety, like counterfeit parts for cars and electronics. The FBI works with partners in the private sector and other law enforcement agencies at all levels to investigate these cases.

Economic espionage costs the American economy hundreds of billions of dollars per year and puts our national security at risk. Historically, economic espionage has targeted defense-related and high-tech industries. But recent FBI cases have shown that no industry, large or small, is immune to the threat. Any company with a proprietary product, process, or idea can be a target. Any unprotected trade secret can be illegally stolen.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has designated espionage as the FBI’s number two priority-second only to terrorism.

The FBI has dedicated agents and analysts located at the Department of Homeland Security’s National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. The IPR Center strives to share critical information and raise awareness of the dangers of IP theft, fraud, cyber intrusions, and trade violations by coordinating with 25 key federal and international government agencies, as well as private sector partners, to combat IP theft around the world. 

If you believe your company is a victim of these crimes, contact the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI, the FBI El Paso Field Office at (915) 832-5000, or the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center at www.ice.gov/iprcenter.

Investigators cannot act if they are not aware of the problem. The FBI will minimize the disruption to your business and safeguard your privacy and your data during its investigation. Where necessary, the FBI will seek protective orders to preserve trade secrets and business confidentiality.

If your company has invested time and resources in developing a product or idea – Protect It!

Jeffrey R. Downey

Special Agent in Charge, FBI El Paso