News Releases
GSA Alerts Public to Recent E-mail SchemeJuly 28, 2006 GSA #10258 E-mails purporting to come from FirstGov.gov are phony Washington, DC – The U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Citizens Services & Communications is warning the public to avoid falling victim to a recent e-mail scheme that targets users by sending unsolicited e-mails allegedly from FirstGov, the citizen portal operated by GSA. These scam e-mails tell recipients that because of recent fraudulent activities on Money Access Online they need to confirm their account has not been stolen or hacked. The e-mails then direct recipients to click on a link and enter information related to personal credit card accounts. The e-mail appears to be sent from this following fraudulent e-mail address: MONEY ACCESS SERVICE (fraud@firstgov.gov). There may be other similarly styled addresses. The text of the e-mail includes “Dear Money Access Customer” and asks for certain private personal and private financial data, but recipients shouldn’t provide this information. These e-mails don’t originate at FirstGov or GSA. FirstGov doesn’t send unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner, nor do we solicit personal information of any kind. Responding to unsolicited e-mails from an unknown sender is risky and dangerous because these e-mails often contain viruses that can infect computers or entice recipients to provide more personal and confidential information. GSA takes this matter seriously and is investigating. Users should delete unsolicited e-mails of this type without opening.
#### GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management, policy development and information provision agency, created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. In this role, GSA acquires products and services on behalf of federal agencies; plays a key role in developing and implementing government-wide policies; provides services and solutions for the office operations of more than one million federal workers; and encourages a citizen-centric relationship with government by providing a single "point of entry" to the information and services citizens need in a timeframe they can appreciate. This allows citizens to receive accurate, timely and consistent answers and information, and helps federal agencies better respond to citizen inquiries. Index of News Releases
Last Reviewed 1/12/2007
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