Consumer Alert – April 10, 2012

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of fraudulent e-mails that have the appearance of being sent from the Publishers Clearing House that make reference to the FDIC.

The e-mails inform the recipient that he or she is the winner of a large cash prize and instructs themto obtain a “Check Insurance Certificate from FDIC.”  The e-mails state the FDIC will be “requesting a fee of $1,000.00” to provide the “Check Insurance Certificate.”  The e-mails state that the recipient is to write to the FDIC via e-mail for instructions on how to send the requested fee.  A fraudulent phone number and e-mail address are provided. 

The FDIC does not issue anything called a “Check Insurance Certificates.”   These e-mails  arefraudulent and were not sent by Publishers Clearing House or the FDIC.  Recipients should consider the intent of these e-mails as an attempt to steal money or collect personal or confidential informationfrom the recipient.  Recipients should NOT, under any circumstances, send funds as requestedor provide any personal financial information through this media.