The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning the public to be cautious if contacted by someone claiming to be an FTC employee. Scammers are using their employees’ real names to steal money from consumers, the Federal Trade Commission said in a warning posted on its website.
A typical ruse involves fake FTC staff suggesting someone wire or transfer funds to “protect” the funds, sending the victim to a Bitcoin ATM, or even asking them to purchase gold bars and give them to someone to “keep safe.”
Bogus FTC staff sometimes use threats to encourage people to move money recklessly.
The FTC’s advice is clear – it never tells consumers to move money to “protect” it:
The FTC will never send consumers to a Bitcoin ATM and tell them to buy gold bars, or ask them to withdraw cash and hand it over to someone in person. It also will never contact consumers to demand money, threaten them with arrest or deportation, or promise prizes. If someone claims to work for the FTC and makes any of these demands or threats, they are a liar.
According to the FTC, the median loss to FTC impersonators has increased from $3,000 in 2019 to $7,000 in 2024. According to the FBI’s latest report on the state of cybercrime, government impersonation scams increased 63% last year, with 14,190 reports resulting in losses exceeding $394 million.
Most common target age group? People over 60 years old.
The Federal Trade Commission has published a series of blog posts describing how to identify and avoid business and government imposter scams.
Protect the people you care about and their life savings by making sure they know simple steps to protect themselves:
- Don’t touch it to “protect” your money. This is a typical trick used by scammers to steal information.
- Never share the verification code sent to you by your bank. Never give it to anyone, especially someone claiming to be from your bank. No caller will ask for a verification code, especially someone from a bank’s anti-fraud department.
- Feeling stressed or worried? stop. hang up. Call your bank’s official number (found on your statement – don’t use the number a scammer might give you!) to verify.
Please report fake FTC scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov (English) or ReporteFraude.ftc.gov (Spanish).
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this article and other guest author articles are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the views of Tripwire.
