Month: August 2021

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

Welcome to the Oregon FBI’s Tech Tuesday segment. Today: Building a digital defense against scammers targeting families searching for missing people.

You see it every day on Facebook or other social media platforms. A family member posts that their teenager has disappeared or senior parent has not returned from a trip out of the house. The goal, of course, is to crowdsource the missing person’s recovery. Here’s where the fraudster can come in: after identifying a missing person on social media, scammers research details of the disappearance, the missing person, and the missing person’s family. The scammers often obtain telephone numbers for the family members on social media and use third-party calling or messaging apps to call to make ransom demands.

The demand usually ranges from $5,000 to $10,000, with $7,000 being a common amount. Generally, offenders do not offer proof of life, although there is at least one instance where the scammer called the family pretending to be the victim. Offenders often claim the missing person is ill or injured, adding to the urgency of the situation and putting additional pressure on family members to pay the ransom.

If you are the target or victim of an extortion attempt related to a missing person:

• Contact your local law enforcement agency or your local FBI field office (contact information can be found at (www.fbi.gov)
• Keep all original documentation, emails, text messages, and logs of communication with the subject. Do not delete anything before law enforcement is able to review it; and
• Tell law enforcement everything about the online encounters—it may be embarrassing for the parent or missing person, but it is necessary to find the offender. When reporting online scams, be as descriptive as possible in the complaint form by providing:
• Name and/or user name of the subject
• email addresses and telephone numbers used by the subject
• Web sites used by the subject
• Description of all interaction with the subject

If you are the victim of any online fraud, you should also report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or call your FBI local office.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

Hands-on forensic science projects, programming, legal analysis, and speech writing are just some of the things that FBI honors interns accomplished this summer.

The FBI Honors Internship Program is a paid, 10-week summer experience that begins in mid-June and ends in mid-August each year. Undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students with at least a 3.0 GPA are placed in FBI divisions based on their skills. Once there, honors interns use their strengths to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.

The FBI hires interns with backgrounds in computer science, law, forensic science, and other disciplines. Regardless of your college major, you can be considered for a spot in the internship. The internships are competitive—on average, 12,000 students apply each year for just a few hundred slots. Some interns work out of FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and others are placed in offices around the country.

In addition to completing the initial application, interested students must also pass a full background investigation, which includes a drug test and polygraph examination, to get a Top Secret security clearance.

The 2021 Honors Internship Program ended today. Students interested in the FBI’s 2022 summer internship program can learn more and apply at fbijobs.gov. The application period is open from September 13 to October 17, 2021.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

The FBI and the Guam Police Department (GPD) are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying an individual who is responsible for a bank robbery at the First Hawaiian Bank at the Compadres Mall in Dededo around 1 p.m. on Friday, August 13th. The suspect is described as a man, possibly in his 50s, with a full neck tattoo and a tear drop tattoo under his right eye. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, dark blue jeans, and had black and gray hair. Please report any information regarding this robbery or the identity of this individual to the Guam FBI office at (671) 688-0373 or contact the GPD or Guam Crime Stoppers at (671) 477-HELP.