Category: Security News

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

It’s time to challenge yourself to a new future! The FBI is hosting a recruiting event to introduce women to the special agent position within the Bureau. The event will take place Tuesday, July 27th starting at 6 p.m.

The first 50 registrants can choose to take part in person on the FBI’s Portland campus. Other Oregon registrants—including those outside the Portland metro area—can participate virtually.

All registrants MUST reserve a spot ahead of time by emailing PortlandApplicants@FBI.gov.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about what it is like to serve in the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency, what the requirements are to apply, and how the FBI helps agents manage work/life balance.

• Do agents have the possibility of working part-time to help manage raising a family? Yes!
• In addition to generous leave benefits, can employees can take 12-weeks off for medical emergencies, including the birth or adoption of a child? Yes!
• Want a job where you have the chance to serve your community, making a better tomorrow for all? Definitely!

Event participants will also have the chance to experience the work of some of the FBI’s specialty groups, including the Evidence Response Team, SWAT, and our fitness instruction program.

Why this emphasis on recruiting women? It is important that the agency represent the people we serve, and that means increasing the number of women who serve in this critical role.

Our special agents bring diverse backgrounds and a wealth of skills to the FBI mission, including the mental acuity, physical stamina, and moral compass required to protect the nation. This is a career where initiative and expertise are essential.

What makes for a competitive candidate? Job applicants must be 23-36 years old, hold at least a bachelor’s degree (if not a higher level degree), have professional work experience, and bring a passion for serving others. People of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply, but the FBI is specifically searching for those working in the fields of science, technology, and math; cybersecurity; education/teaching; health care; law; accounting/finance; and psychology/counseling.

More information on the eligibility requirements, physical fitness requirements, application process, and more can be found at www.FBIJobs.gov.

A video on the role of women in the FBI shows how one person’s unique set of experiences can impact the world around her. A full set of videos that show the application process and how agents are trained can be found on the FBI’s YouTube page at www.YouTube.com/FBI.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

Press release available in both English and Spanish.

The FBI, working with Portland Police Bureau, is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of those responsible for the shooting death of Evelin Navarro-Barajas. This reward is in addition to the CrimeStoppers reward of up to $2,500 previously offered.

On June 18, 2020, 23-year-old Evelin Navarro-Barajas spent the afternoon at the river. That evening, Evelin and a group of friends that included children gathered in a parking lot in the 6700 block of Northeast Killingsworth Street. Just before midnight, a vehicle stopped on the street near the parking lot. A suspect or suspects exited the vehicle and fired multiple shots at the group. Evelin was shot and died early in the morning of June 19th. A friend was shot and survived.

Evidence suggests this was a gang-motivated shooting, however, there is no indication that Evelin and her friends were gang-affiliated.

The FBI is offering this reward as part of the Metro Safe Streets Task Force’s effort to stem violence in the region and to remove illegal guns from the streets. The FBI, ATF, Portland Police Bureau, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, and the Gresham Police Department are the investigating agencies that make up the Safe Streets Task Force. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are the prosecutorial partners who support the task force’s work.

Anyone with information about the Navarro-Barajas homicide or any other shooting should contact the FBI in Portland at (503) 224-4181, at (800) CALL-FBI or at tips.fbi.gov. Tips may also be submitted to CrimeStoppers at www.crimestoppersoforegon.com.

El FBI Ofrece Una Recompensa De Hasta $15,000 Por Información Sobre El Homidicio De Evelin Navarro-Barajas

El FBI, trabajando conjuntamente con del Departamento de Policía de Portland, ofrece una recompensa de hasta $15, 000 por información que conduzca a la identificación, arresto, y condena de aquellas personas responsables por el asesinato con arma de fuego de Evelin Navarro-Barrajas. Esta recompensa es adicional a la de $2,500 ofrecida anteriormente por Crime Stoppers.

El 18 de junio de 2020, Evelin Navarro-Barrajas, de 23 años de edad, había pasado la tarde en el río. Esa noche, Evelin y un grupo de amigos que incluía a pequeños, se reunieron en el estacionamiento cercano a la cuadra 6700 de la calle NE Killingsworth. Un poco antes de medianoche, un auto se detuvo cerca del estacionamiento. Un sospechoso o sospechosos descendió del auto y realizó varios disparos contra el grupo. Evelin recibió un impacto de bala y falleció en las primeras horas del 19 de junio. Un amigo de ella también resultó herido pero sobrevivió.

La evidencia sugiere que esta balacera estaba relacionada con pandillas. Sin embargo, no hay ninguna indicación que Evelin y sus amigos estuvieran afiliados a alguna pandilla.

El FBI ofrece esta recompensa como parte del esfuerzo que el Grupo de Tarea Metro Safe Streets (Calles Metropolitanas Seguras) realiza para detener la violencia en la región y eliminar las armas ilegales de las calles. Las agencias investigadoras que forman parte del Grupo de Tarea son el FBI, el ATF, el Departamento de Policía de Portland, el Departamento del Sheriff del Condado de Multnomah, y el Departamento de Policía de Gresham.

La Oficina del Fiscal de Distrito del Condado de Multnomah y la Oficina del Fiscal Federal son las agencias de procuración de justicia que juntas apoyan el trabajo del Grupo de Tarea.

La persona que tenga información acerca del homicidio de Navarro-Barrajas, o cualquier otra balacera, debe ponerse en contacto con el FBI en Portland llamando al (503) 224-4181, o al (800) CALL-FBI, o visitando la página web tips.fbi.gov. También se pueden reportar pistas al grupo de Crime Stoppers en la página www.crimestoppersoforegon.com.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

June is Elder Abuse Awareness Month. For more information, go to https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/elder-fraud. Our series of “Tech Tuesday” reports this month will cover a variety of scams that seniors often face.

Welcome to the Oregon FBI’s Tech Tuesday segment. This week: building a digital defense against frauds targeting senior citizens when it comes to technical support scams.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center says it received almost 10,000 reports from seniors 60 and older about such scams in 2020—with reported losses of more than $116 million. That’s a 204 percent increase in losses from 2019.

Technical support fraud happens when criminals pose as customer, security, or tech support representatives—usually from a well-known company. In one version of the scam, the fraudster contacts the victim by phone, email, or text to tell the victim that there’s a problem with the victim’s device or financial account. The fraudster may say the device has a security flaw and has been hacked… or that some unauthorized person is stealing money from a bank account.

In another version of the scam, the senior is experiencing a real technical problem with a device and goes out in search of help. When he pulls up the search engine results, he may inadvertently click on a bad ad instead of a legitimate vendor.

A third common way for a senior to get caught up in this scam is for the fraudster to use malware to cause a pop-up message or lock screen to appear on the senior’s device. 

No matter how the scam starts, the criminal’s goal is to convince the senior to give the fake tech support person remote access to the device. With that access, the fraudster can now potentially have access to all of the victim’s personal info, tax returns, and bank accounts. 

Criminals target seniors because they are often more trusting, financially stable, and less likely to report the crime out of shame. 

Here’s how you can protect yourself and your family members: 

• Know that legitimate tech support people will not contact you unsolicited. 
• Never give unknown, unverified people access to your devices. 
• Ensure that you update all anti-virus, security, and malware protection on your devices. Don’t let an unknown person tell you that he needs to do it for you. 
• If you receive a concerning pop-up or your screen locks, shut down your device immediately, regardless of the directions you receive from the scammer. Oftentimes, waiting a short time and rebooting will fix the problem. 
• When doing online searches for technical support, be cautious of listings at the top of the page labeled as “sponsored”. If you are having trouble with a particular software or hardware product, go directly to that company’s webpage. 

If you have been victimized by an online scam, report your suspicious contacts to the FBI. You can file an online report at the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at  www.ic3.gov or call your FBI local office.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

NEW ORLEANS, LA—FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Douglas Williams, Jr. is pleased to announce Mr. Aaron Ahlquist as the recipient of the 2020 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award.

Mr. Ahlquist is the Director of Community Engagement for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) South Region. He formerly served as Regional Director since 2017. He also serves as co-chair on the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans Security Committee. Mr. Ahlquist is a highly effective leader in community outreach, involvement, and improvement. He is a valuable and highly appreciated resource and partner to the FBI New Orleans Division (FBI NO).

In 2004, Mr. Ahlquist, his wife, and children moved to New Orleans and made it their home. Since then, Mr. Ahlquist has been committed to combatting antisemitism and all forms of hatred and bigotry through community engagement, incident response, and legislative policy work for the ADL Southern Division’s 11 states.

An active member of FBI NO’s Multicultural Engagement Council and Civil Rights Working Group, Mr. Ahlquist is working with the FBI on a joint innovative outreach strategy across Louisiana to reach underrepresented groups, particularly the Jewish, LGBTQ+, Latino, and African American communities, in furtherance of the FBI’s mission to build trust and develop stronger ties to the community, educate the public, and prevent hate-motivated and extremist crimes.

With sincere appreciation, FBI NO recognizes the compassion and outstanding service Mr. Ahlquist provided during a difficult year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide civil unrest, Mr. Ahlquist maintained consistent communication and supported FBI NO’s commitment to keep all Louisianians safe.

“Mr. Ahlquist’s tireless efforts demonstrate his commitment to help strengthen the relationship between the FBI and the communities we serve,” said FBI NO SAC Williams. “The FBI is proud to recognize his work and continued partnership.”

On Wednesday, July 14, 2021, FBI NO SAC Douglas Williams, Jr., Assistant Special Agent in Charge Vanessa Tibbits, and Community Outreach Specialist Lori Chauvin formally presented Mr. Aaron Ahlquist with the 2020 Director’s Community Leadership Award Nominee at the FBI NO Field Office.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

The Fairview Heights Resident Agency, part of the FBI Springfield Field Office, has organized a working group consisting of federal partners the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG) to combat Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) fraud.

The PPP and EIDL are part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act designed to provide financial assistance to millions of American businesses during the pandemic. PPP loans help businesses keep their workforce employed during the pandemic. Loan proceeds must be used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, utilities, and other limited property damage and operations costs as specified under the program.

The EIDL program is designed to provide economic relief to small businesses that experience a temporary loss of revenue with proceeds used to cover a wide array of working capital and normal operating expenses.

Criminals are fraudulently applying for these loans or targeting the funds once they have been disbursed. This type of fraud can involve business owners who have inflated their payroll expenses to obtain larger loans, fraudsters who create fake companies and identities, and organized criminal networks that submit identical loan applications under different company names. The ill-gotten money is then used for personal gain.

The PPP/EIDL Fraud Working Group, formed in collaboration with the FBI, IRS-CI, and SBA-OIG will combine resources to target this threat that is escalating at a record pace, and obtain critical data and evidence to identify PPP fraud.

“Unfortunately, when a crisis emerges as the result of a natural disaster or a global pandemic such as COVID-19, there are individuals within our society who will take advantage of the situation to defraud those in need of government economic relief packages as means to line their own pockets. We have seen several schemes related to the COVID-19 crisis. Be wary of anyone seeking personally identifiable information or financial information, in person or online, to facilitate application for or otherwise access government funds. The FBI and our partners are committed to protecting the American people and the integrity of government assistance programs. We will relentlessly pursue those who exploit government relief funds and use them for personal gain at the taxpayer’s expense. Our investigative partnerships will lead to prison terms for these criminals,” said FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Sean M. Cox.

“Our mission is to combat the exploitation of programs designed to help those in need. IRS-CI has successfully investigated PPP and EIDL fraud identifying millions in stolen funds,” said Amanda Prestegard, acting special agent in charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s St. Louis Field Office. “IRS-CI will continue to partner with the FBI and SBA-OIG to aggressively pursue those who commit CARES Act fraud.”

Experience demonstrates that cooperation from public-private partnerships is one of the FBI’s best allies in maximizing awareness and visibility of suspicious conduct, including the misuse and abuse of taxpayer funds. If you suspect PPP/EIDL fraud, contact FBI Springfield at 217-522-9675 or submit tips to tips.fbi.gov or IRS.gov or SBA-OIG Fraud Hotline.