Similar warnings have come from the IG at the IRS targeting taxpayers and from the IG at SSA targeting persons receiving benefits from that agency. Image: fizkes/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe inspector general’s office at the EPA has posted an alert that serves as a reminder that scams in which federal agencies and individual employees are impersonated aren’t limited to targeting individuals.
The alert calls attention to “an increasingly common phishing scam involving fraudulent EPA Notice of Violation letters. In this scam, a fraudster sends a falsified EPA Notice of Violation letter to a target business and requests that the business respond by phone or email.”
“In recent instances of this crime, a fraudster sent falsified letters through email or U.S. Postal Service mail. The letters allege that the target business violated an environmental regulation such as the Clean Air Act. They indicate that the business owes thousands of dollars in fines and should respond by phone or email,” it said.
However, neither the phone number nor the web address — which mimic those that a government agency might use — are official, it says.
Similar warnings have come from the IG at the IRS targeting taxpayers and from the IG at SSA targeting persons receiving benefits from that agency. In some cases, actual agency phone numbers have been spoofed, and names and photographs of actual agency employees have been used in emails. The IG at DHS has pointed out similar scams involving immigration law enforcement.
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