Police foil extortion attempt
by Alan Adams
UHCLIDIAN Staff

E-mail has become a valuable tool for both the faculty and students at UH-Clear Lake. It has also become a tool for Internet fraud and extortion.

On Jan. 21 a faculty member in the School of Education reported an e-mail from an individual attempting to extort money from his online accounts. The e-mail was forwarded to the university police department Jan. 22. The same day the university police notified and sent a copy of the e-mail to the FBI. The complainant received no other e-mail threats.

The university police will not reveal the complainant's name.

"We are not at liberty to reveal any names related to this case since it has been referred to another agency," said Michael Herbst, UH-Clear Lake chief of police. "We are unable to release specific information that could damage the outcome of a case."

The UH-Clear Lake faculty member received the e-mail via his list serve from Hong Kong. The e-mail contained the suspectıs name and address. The suspect threatened to access the victim's computer accounts if a specific dollar amount was not deposited into a PayPal account.

PayPal enables individuals with an e-mail account to securely send and receive payments online..

The extortionist said code would be sent to the victim once the money was sent, which would stop other hackers from gaining access to his computer accounts.

The university police have received no further information. The FBI is not required to reveal the disposition of the case and the suspect's name is being withheld pending the outcome of the investigation.

"The Internet does not belong to any one country," said Herbst. "No laws dictate it. It is doubtful that there will be any arrests since the suspect resides in Hong Kong."

The campus police also contacted Yahoo and the victimıs list serve, informing them of the alleged violation.

The university police have received no other reports of Internet extortion from faculty members or students.

Individuals who receive harassing or fraudulent e-mail should contact the Internet fraud hotline at 1(800) 251-3221 or the Internet Fraud Complaint Center online at www.IFCCfbi.gov.

The IFCC is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The purpose of the IFCC is to notify authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. The IFCC is a central repository for Internet fraud related complaints.

Individuals should keep any evidence related to a complaint. Save e-mails, printed copy of a Web site, chat room or newsgroup text.