Oregon Department of Justice

The Oregon Department of Justice has received numerous complaints about an email solicitation scam. The fake email claims to be from the FBI and requests $350 from the recipient to obtain a "Clearance Certificate." The email threatens to send an agent to the recipient's home for questioning, and/or other legal sanctions if they fail to contact the Department of Homeland Security within 24 hours in order to obtain their "Clearance Certificate." The email also lists contact information for the FBI in Washington D.C., and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Lagos.

Do not respond to these emails. They are being sent by scam artists to a large number of people with the intent of obtaining personal or financial information.

Fake email solicitations – also commonly known as Nigerian email scams – are among the most common scams reported in Oregon. In 2010, international money transfer schemes were reported by more than 1,000 Oregon consumers. Last year, Oregonians lost nearly $2 million to email solicitation and other scams.

To avoid the FBI email scam Attorney General John Kroger offers the following advice:

• Be wary of unsolicited emails.
• A government agency will never request your contact information, Social Security Number, banking information, or credit card numbers in an email.
• A government agency does not threaten people with legal action such as investigation, jail, or prosecution for failure to respond to an email solicitation.
• Consider any email solicitation that lists multiple offices as a red flag.

If you receive an email solicitation but are unsure whether or not you are the target of a scam, please call the Oregon Department of Justice Consumer Hotline at 1-877-877-9392.

The Oregon Department of Justice would like to thank Oregon State Senator Brian Boquist's office for bringing this scam to our attention.

See the scam here: http://www.doj.state.or.us/releases/pdf/fbi_scam_061411.pdf