SIPC warns of web scam targeting Madoff victims

Getting burned by Bernard Madoff wasn't bad enough. Now, victims of the Madoff fraud appear to be a target of a scam operated by Internet con artists. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which maintains a special reserve fund to protect the customers of insolvent brokerage firms, said today that it is alerting regulators about a look-alike website for what it claims is a fictitious organization. Apparently, that site is mimicking the SIPC site in a ruse targeting Madoff victims. According to SIPC, the so-called “International Securities Investor Protection Corporation (I-SIPC.com)” copies several aspects of the legitimate SIPC web ite, including artwork and structural design. But the supposedly bogus site is soliciting Madoff victims to submit claims, which SIPC says could lead to identify theft or other problems. In one section of the website, the group includes a supposed testimonial from a Madoff victim who is reported as having received funds from the organization. The site offers victims a chance to apply for $1.3 billion in cash recovered from a Madoff “hideout” in Malaysia. The site also indicates that the group has ties to the United Nations and the World Bank. What's more, the group claims that it's based in Geneva. But according to the Associated Press, records show the site to be registered to an address in Lagos, Nigeria. “We know from information provided to us by individuals that this bogus group is already attempting to obtain funds and confidential financial information from investors in the U.S.,” SIPC President Stephen Harbeck said. SIPC is warning Madoff victims and other investors that they should not submit any personal financial information to l-SIPIC.com We intend to use every available means to shut down this illicit operation,” Mr. Harbeck said. SIPC is looking into trademark issues and will seek to have the violator prosecuted to the extent the law allows. In 2004, SIPC got law enforcement involved when it identified a look-alike Web site seeking to defraud investors.