The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center is warning of <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/17/FBI-and-military-names-being-used-in-email-scams_1.html">fraudulent emails that appear to come from the FBI and U.S. military.</A> "The IC3 has increasingly received intelligence of fraudulent schemes misrepresenting the FBI and/or Director Robert S. Mueller III," the center said in an alert published Tuesday. "The fraudulent emails give the appearance of legitimacy due to the usage of pictures of the FBI Director, seal, letterhead, and/or banners."

The spam is actually pumping lotteries or are phony inheritance notifications, the IC3 said. Other scams use the FBI's name to "intimidate and convince the recipient the email is legitimate," the IC3 said. Criminals have used the agency's name in extortion emails and online auction scams as well.

The IC3 is a clearinghouse for complaints of criminal activity on the Internet. Run jointly by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, it works with other law enforcement agencies and industries to help crack down on illegal online activity.