A pair of e-mail scams, one of which is said to be aimed at families of soldiers killed in Iraq and both of which claim ties to the Department of Homeland Security, are under federal investigation.
The scam involving the Iraq war soldiers' families includes a link to Homeland Security's Website and seeks to recover money from friends of slain soldiers. The second scam is an e-mail touting itself as that of a federal agent tracking funds looted by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from the Iraqi Central Bank, and also links to Homeland Security asking for confirmation of the recipient's address.
So said the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement bureau of Homeland Security, whose director Michael J. Garcia called the scams "among the worst we have ever encountered" in a formal statement.
But Garcia seemed to save his harshest scorn for the scam referencing the slain soldiers. "We are also concerned about the fact that these criminals are impersonating ICE agents and referring to ICE's official Web site in an effort to steal money from Americans who have lost loved ones," his statement added. The problem: that ICE agents were pulled out of Iraq almost a year ago.
