The Federal Trade Commission is warning the public that scammers are pretending to be affiliated with the FTC to steal consumers’ hard-earned money.
FTC staff has received many calls directly from consumers reporting that scammers used the names of real FTC employees to convince them to move, transfer, send, or wire money.
The median loss to FTC impersonators has increased from $3,000 in 2019 to $7,000 in 2024.
The FTC will never tell consumers to move their money to “protect” it. The FTC will never send consumers to a Bitcoin ATM, tell them to go buy gold bars, or demand they withdraw cash and take it to someone in person. It will also never contact consumers to demand money, threaten to arrest or deport them, or promise a prize. If someone claims to work for the FTC and makes any of these demands or threats, they are a scammer.
the agency said.
FTC said government and business impersonation scams have cost consumers billions of dollars in recent years, and both categories saw significant increases in reports to the FTC in 2023.
