The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been informed that the above-mentioned Web site, "helpwithmybank.com," is attempting to masquerade as the legitimate Web site, "helpwithmybank.gov," and contains potentially damaging malware. The illegitimate site redirects the user to the legitimate site "helpwithmybank.gov" in an attempt to convince users that they are connecting to a legitimate site. Attempts to connect to the fake Web site could expose the user to harmful malware.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of a
fraudulent e-mail that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC.

The e-mails appear to be sent from various "@fdic.gov" e-mail addresses, such as "insurance@fdic.gov," "subscriptions@fdic.gov," "alert@fdic.gov," or accounts@fdic.gov.

The e-mails have subject lines, such as: "FDIC: Your business account;" "FDIC: About your business account;" "Insurance coverage of your business account;" or something similar.

The e-mails are addressed to "Dear Business Owner," and state, "We have important news regarding your bank." They then ask recipients to "Please click here to find details." They conclude with, "This includes information on the acquiring bank (if applicable), how your accounts and loans are affected, and how vendors can file claims against the receivership."

This e-mail and link are fraudulent. Recipients should consider the intent of this e-mail as an attempt to collect personal or confidential information, or to load malicious software onto end users' computers. Recipients should not click on the link provided.

The FDIC does not issue unsolicited e-mails to consumers or business account holders.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is aware of an ongoing scam that involves fraudsters claiming to be from the Federal Reserve (sometimes using the name James Carter) contacting the public through unsolicited phone calls or emails regarding a fictitious $7000 federal grant. In most instances regarding this scam, the fraudsters require the victims to wire a certain sum of money (via Western Union or Moneygram) in order to receive the fictitious grant. The victim is told this money is needed for an application fee, a charitable donation or a processing fee in order for the fictitious grant money to be released. After the victim wires these funds, the victim is contacted again and requested to wire additional money for one final fee in order to receive the fictitious grant money. Of course, the victims will never receive any grant money as this program does not exist.

Please note the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is NOT involved in any federal grant program. We urge the public to remain alert to fraudulent scams involving individuals who purport to be employees of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York does not maintain grant money or any other type of funds / accounts for individuals.