MIAMI – The FBI’s Miami Division is warning the public about a recent increase of scam attempts targeting South Florida residents.
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“Callers identify themselves as a federal officer and typically instruct people to wire or mail ‘settlement’ money or to assist law enforcement with an investigation against a bank,” the FBI said in a news release Thursday. “These calls are fraudulent, and call recipients should hang up immediately. Federal agencies do not call or e-mail individuals threatening them to send money or to use their personal money as ‘bait’ for a federal investigation.”
According to the FBI, there are different versions of this “government impersonation scam,” but the scammers all use the same tactic.
The FBI says this type of scam has been around for years in the U.S., but recently they are getting more reports about it.
“Criminals use law enforcement impersonation scams as a means of confusing and unnerving their intended victims in order to get them to act rashly,” said Supervisory Special Agent Michael Brown. “If you receive one of these calls, hang up, and report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.”
According to the FBI, in 2024, Florida residents reported 1,579 impersonation scams with an estimated loss of over $12 million.
“In addition, a scam phone call may seem legitimate because scammers can spoof caller ID information,” the news release stated. “It may appear the call is coming from a federal agency’s legitimate phone number or from Washington, D.C. or may show the name of a federal agency.”
The FBI urges people to be cautious when answering phone calls from numbers you don’t recognize and not to send money to anybody who you do not know and trust.
The FBI says people should also never give out their personal information over the phone, including banking information.
If you believe you have been targeted by this scam, you can report the incident at ic3.gov.
More information about this scheme and other online fraud schemes can be found here.
Click here for the latest annual report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center.