The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Office of Inspector General, is investigating incidences whereby individuals are using fraudulent Treasury-related financial obligations or accounts to attempt purchases or pay debts. Fraud perpetrators across the nation have recently begun to use fraudulent promissory notes and/or private bonds as vehicles to defraud investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Department of the Treasury is also aware of several fraudulent schemes that involve what are claimed to be securities issued or backed by the Treasury Department or another part of the U.S. Government. These scams have been directed towards banks, charities, individuals, and companies which seek payment on the fraudulent securities.
Recently, Treasury OIG has become aware of a different variation of this scheme. Individuals are obtaining routing numbers from two Treasury bureaus, the Financial Management Service (FMS) and the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD). Fraudulent seminars are being held throughout the United States, which teach attendees how to create the aforementioned fictitious documents and how to use federal routing numbers. Individuals are now creating false checking accounts with the federal routing numbers, using their social security number as the checking account number, and listing the bank as either the FMS or the BPD. Be advised that as Treasury bureaus and the Treasury Direct Program do NOT offer checking accounts for the public, they will NOT honor any of these checks.
Sample fraudulent documents, which falsely utilize names of Treasury bureaus and/or officials, are provided below for reference. These documents are NOT valid negotiable financial instruments and recipients should NOT respond to, nor act upon, such documents. In addition to browsing the documents below, you may visit the official website of the Bureau of the Public Debt for more information on this topic and how to avoid becoming a victim of this type of fraud.