Fictitious correspondence, allegedly issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regarding funds purportedly under the control of the OCC and other government entities, is in circulation. Correspondence may be distributed via e-mail, fax, or postal mail.

Any document claiming that the OCC is involved in holding any funds for the benefit of any individual or entity is fraudulent. The OCC does not participate in the transfer of funds for, or on behalf of, individuals, business enterprises, or governmental entities.

The letters may indicate that funds are being held by the OCC, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or the U.S. Department of Justice because of the need for payment of a 0.059 percent revenue charge to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

The correspondence in question contains forged signatures of actual OCC officials. In addition, the material contains a fictitious mailing address that is not associated with the OCC.

Before responding in any manner to any proposal supposedly issued by the OCC that requests personal information or personal account information, or that requires the payment of any fee in connection with the proposal, you should take steps to verify that the proposal is legitimate.

At a minimum, the OCC recommends that you:

• Contact the OCC directly to verify the legitimacy of the proposal (1) via e-mail at occalertresponses@occ.treas.gov; (2) by mail to the OCC’s Special Supervision Division, 250 E St. SW; Mail Stop 2-7, Washington, DC 20219; (3) via fax to (202) 874-5214; or (4) by calling the Special Supervision Division at (202) 874-4450.
• Contact state and/or local law enforcement.
• File a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov, if the proposal appears to be fraudulent and was received via e-mail or the Internet.
• File a complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspector Service by telephone at (888) 877-7644, by mail at U.S. Postal Inspection Service, 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60606-6100, or via online complaint form at:https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx, if the proposal appears to be fraudulent and was delivered through the U.S. Postal Service.

Below is a copy of this fraudulent correspondence, which is being sent  by fraudsters in an attempt to elicit funds and to gather personal information to be used in possible future identification theft.

The Federal Reserve Bank has confirmed that there currently are fraudulent emails circulating claiming to be a public service announcement jointly distributed by the Federal Reserve Banks in collaboration with the Internet Crime Compliant Center (IC3) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

The email message encourages financial institutions and their employees to visit a rouge website to download the “announcement.”

These are fraudulent emails! Do not click on any of the links or forward to other recipients.
A sample of the email is below:
************************************************************************************************
From: Federal Reserve Financial Services (fedcommunications numbers @ mail – frbservices dot org)
Subject: ATT : Your Name and Organization

This message is to be delivered to: Your Name at Your Organization

In an effort to notify and update all financial institutions and their employees of the recent fraud scenarios The Federal Reserve Banks in collaboration with IC3 and NW3C issued the following message:

A Public Service Announcement has been issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is a joint partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Financial Institutions are encouraged to share this public service announcement with account holders.
Visit (Fraudulent link was inserted here) for exact instructions and details on fraud scenarios.

IC3′s website provides a vehicle for consumer’s to file Internet crime complaints. Complaint information will be combined with other related subject information and referred to federal, state, and local law enforcement for the initiation or enhancement of investigations.
****************************************************************************

At Central National Bank we’re all about service to our customers. And one of the services we provide is fraud monitoring.

For your protection, we recently placed a block on certain types of Central National Bank debit card transactions.  If you have problems using your debit card to conduct International telephone or Internet transactions, it may be due to our attempt to protect your account from fraud. Transactions affected are those that require you to key in your card number in order to make a payment.

This change will not affect traditional retail transactions (those made in person). So, if you’re traveling feel free to continue use your debit card overseas!

We know that being away from home can be tough sometimes. So make sure to let us know if you have travel plans. We can put extra monitoring in place to lend you “peace of mind” while you’re away from home.

Call your local branch if you have questions regarding this change or specific transactions.

We appreciate your business, as well as your patience and understanding! Thank you!

Equifax Corporate Security has received notice that some customers and consumers have received fraudulent emails and/or letters falsely claiming to be from Equifax.

One email purports to be from Global Customer Support Center. The email advises customers that they need to download a zip file in order to maintain their secure connection to Equifax. The file to download, however, contains a link to a malware site. There are also several links in the email to Equifax and Oracle. Other emails/letters ask customers to provide bank name, account number and other confidential information.

If you are an Equifax customer and have clicked on a link in one of these emails, immediately contact Equifax Security at Security.DataAdministration@equifax.com. If you have supplied any bank account numbers or other confidential information requested in a letter, you should immediately contact your financial institution.

If you are an Equifax customer and you have clicked on this link, contact Equifax Corporate Security immediately at (866) 493-5983 or Security.DataAdministration@equifax.com

We have received reports from customers who have received emails much like the one listed below. These e-mails and the link included are fraudulent and were not sent by the FDIC. Recipients should consider the intent of these e-mails as an attempt to collect personal or confidential information, or to load malicious software onto end users’ computers. Recipients should NOT access the link provided within the body of the e-mails and should NOT, under any circumstances, provide any personal financial information through this media.
Financial institutions and consumers should be aware that other subject lines and modifications to the e-mails may occur over time. The FDIC does not directly contact consumers in this manner nor does the FDIC request personal financial information from consumers.

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