The letters "F.B.I." still have considerable power on the American psyche, which Internet spammers have now seized upon for their latest round of email fraud.

We're not just talking "cheap Cialis" ads sent by a "J. Edgar Hoover" -- all things considered, those would be rather amusing.   

Rather, a spate of spam email messages that claim to be sent from top FBI officials are circulating the Internet, with the intention of tapping unsuspecting individuals for money or personally identifiable information. 

Many of the spam e-mails currently in circulation claim to be from an “official order” from the FBI’s non-existent Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division or from an alleged FBI unit in Nigeria. The emails request various personal information such as names, telephone and bank account numbers, and copies of passports.

The FBI issued a press release late last week urging citizens not to respond to the email hoaxes, and to report any scams to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.

Keep up to date on the latest Internet scams on the FBI's website at http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm and sign up for alerts.