OTTAWA — The Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce is passing on a warning of a scam in which e-mails claim to come from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC said the e-mails are scams and should be ignored. The agency said e-mails appearing to be sent from the FDIC ask recipients to download and open a “personal FDIC insurance file” to check their deposit insurance coverage. The subject line of the fraudulent e-mails may include the wording “check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage.” The e-mails state: “You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets.” The FDIC said the e-mails ask recipients to “visit the official FDIC website” by clicking on a hyperlink provided, which appears to be related to the FDIC and directs recipients to a fraudulent Web site. The Web site includes hyperlinks that appear to open forms. However, it is believed that clicking on the hyperlinks will cause an unknown file to be downloaded. While the FDIC is working with the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team to determine the exact effects of the file, recipients should consider it as a malicious attempt to collect personal or confidential information, some of which may be used to gain unauthorized access to online banking services or to conduct identity theft. Financial institutions and consumers should not access the Web site or download any files provided on the Web site. The FDIC said it is attempting to identify the source of the e-mails and disrupt the transmission.
