Surely there is a special place in Hell for those who would try to defraud and further victimize Madoff victims?

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation announced today that it is alerting international regulators about a fictitious organization that has created a deceiving web site that looks like SIPC's in an apparent attempt to target Madoff victims.

The entity in question--the so-called "International Security Investor Protection Corporation (I-SIPC.com)"--has a website that appears to clone many pages and features of the real SIPC web site, even closely copying the SIPC logo (see the comparison above). The ISIPC web site also copies entire pages from the SIPC web site, such as the "How ISIPC Protects Investors" discussion (in this case without even bothering to change the name in the copied text to ISIPC, as it probably intended to do). SIPC warns that ISIPC is soliciting Madoff victims to submit claims, which SIPC believes could result in "phishing" or other identify theft problems.

Among other things, SIPC states that ISIPC falsely claims to have collaborated with Interpol to recover $1.3 billion in Madoff money from a hideout in Malaysia. SIPC President Stephen Harbeck stated that SIPC knows that "this bogus group is already attempting to obtain funds and confidential financial information from investors in the U.S. SIPC wants to be as clear as possible that Madoff victims and other investors should not share any personal financial information via this Web site or rely upon it as an information source. We intend to use every available means to shut down this illicit operation."