ICE WARNS THE PUBLIC ABOUT NEW IRAQ-RELATED INTERNET SCAMS PREYING ON RELATIVES OF SLAIN U.S. SOLDIERS AND OTHER AMERICANS

-- Fraudulent E-mail Solicitations Use Links to ICE’s Website to Establish Bona Fides --

Washington, DC—Michael J. Garcia, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), today issued a warning to the public about two new Iraq-related Internet scams targeting Americans, including one directed at the relatives of fallen U.S. soldiers in Iraq and another in which the sender claims to be an ICE agent in Iraq tracking Saddam Hussein’s assets.

“These new Internet fraud schemes are among the worst we have ever encountered. Most troubling is the fact that some are targeting the relatives of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. We are also concerned about the fact that these criminals are impersonating ICE agents and referring to ICE’s official website in an effort to steal money from Americans who have lost loved ones. Those who receive these bogus e-mail solicitations should ignore and delete them,” said Assistant Secretary Garcia.

The first scheme involves e-mail sent to relatives of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Claiming to be a volunteer working with U.S. forces, the sender states that a late friend, who was also a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, was a very good friend of the relatives’ slain son or daughter. The sender then goes on to ask for assistance in obtaining funds kept for them by the deceased friend. The sender says they will provide more details when the relative returns their email. The sender then adds a link to ICE’s actual website, the portion of which discusses ICE operations in Iraq.

In the second, scheme, a blanket e-mail is being distributed which claims to be from an “Immigration and Customs Enforcement” official in Iraq who is responsible for tracking down funds looted from the Iraqi Central Bank by Saddam Hussein’s son. The sender lists ICE’s website address in the e-mail in an effort to establish bona fides. The sender then asks for confirmation of the e-mail address of the recipient for as the sender states “there is a very important and confidential matter which I want us both to discuss.”

The public should know that these solicitations are not associated with any ICE personnel or activities, and further, that the public should not respond or provide any personal or financial information to anyone who makes such an overture. The ICE Cyber Crimes Center in northern Virginia, in conjunction with the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility in Washington, D.C., are investigating these Internet fraud schemes.

It is true that ICE agents assigned to the U.S. Central Command did conduct investigative operations in Iraq for many months after the U.S. invasion as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among other activities, ICE agents conducted financial investigations that resulted in the seizure of $32 million in U.S. currency in Iraq. ICE agents also traced the serial numbers from the roughly $756 million in U.S. currency and 90 million Euros seized by the U.S. military in April 2003.

The ICE investigation found that these funds had been withdrawn from the Central Bank of Iraq by Saddam Hussein’s son in the days leading up to the U.S. invasion. The ICE probe revealed that Saddam Hussein had written a letter to the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq on March 19, 2003 in which he authorized his son to withdraw $920 million in the U.S. currency and 90 million Euros from the bank.

The final ICE investigative team departed Iraq in March 2004.