Scammers are posing as FBI agents and threatening targets with fines and jail time if they refuse to provide personal and/or financial information. The FBI has issued a warning, noting that it has received multiple reports of such incidents, where scammers are targeting North Florida residents and attempting to steal their personal information . In addition, several forms of U.S. government “impersonation” scams have been reported in recent days.
It is noteworthy that in all these cases, the scammers posing as FBI agents used intimidation tactics, threatening their targets with fines, imprisonment or other «consequences».
One of the victims reported that a scammer called him claiming to be an FBI agent, while telling him that he would receive a «big prize» as a reward for providing sensitive personal information.
After refusing to provide any of the requested information, the victim received a phone call from a second scammer who also claimed to be an FBI agent and asked him to provide the same information to «help with an investigation».
Another victim received a call from another scammer posing as an FBI agent. The scammer threatened the victim, forcing them to immediately provide financial and personal information to “assist in an ongoing investigation.” Specifically, the scammer claimed that he urgently needed personal information about the victim so that the victim would not be considered a suspect in an alleged crime. When the victim refused to provide the requested information, the caller threatened them with fines and imprisonment.
As BleepingComputer reports, the FBI is asking for verification of the identities of those claiming to be involved in an investigation as representatives of the police department. It also added that none of its representatives will ask citizens for money to contribute to an investigation or for any other reason.
All forms of fraud should be reported to the Internet (IC3) at www.IC3.gov. Filing a complaint with the IC3 allows the FBI to identify patterns that assist in federal investigations, as well as in public awareness and education . The FBI also encourages U.S. citizens who have been victims of such fraud and have suffered financial loss or identity theft to file a report with their local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission at https://www.identitytheft.gov/. – FBI.
There have been numerous scam alerts recently . The U.S. National Security Agency recently warned of attacks targeting corporate accounts, as well as scams related to the COVID-19 vaccine . The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has also published guidance and advice for taxpayers to help them identify theft attempts that may be related to unemployment benefits.
