April 22, 2025 • 26 mins
New FBI Public Service Announcement on April 18, 20205. Criminal scammers are impersonating the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) employees. Almost all the reports filed reflect that the scammer claims to have recovered the victim's lost funds or offers to assist in recovering the funds.
The IC3 will never directly communicate with individuals via phone, email, social media, phone apps, public forums, etc.
Read the full FBI PSA herehttps://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250418
Let’s Talk About Scams is broadcast live Tuesdays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Let’s Talk About Scams TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Let’s Talk About Scams Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional / legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted sources and references; however, R.O.S.E. Resources / Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to a scam.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/let-s-talk-about-scams--6483699/support.
The IC3 will never directly communicate with individuals via phone, email, social media, phone apps, public forums, etc.
Read the full FBI PSA herehttps://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250418
Let’s Talk About Scams is broadcast live Tuesdays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Let’s Talk About Scams TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Let’s Talk About Scams Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional / legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted sources and references; however, R.O.S.E. Resources / Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to a scam.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/let-s-talk-about-scams--6483699/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This program is designed to provide general information with regards
to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,
legal counseling, professional service, or any advice.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You should seek the services.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.
The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational
purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional
legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted
sources and references. However, Rose Resources outreach to safeguard the
(00:45):
elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to
a scam. Let's talk about scams. It's the must listen
show for anyone who wants to protect themselves and their
loved ones from scams. Every Tuesday am Pacific time on
K four HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and
(01:06):
her guests will provide valuable insights and practical tips on
how to recognize and protect yourself from scams. And now
here is your host, Joyce Petrowski.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Hi, everybody, welcome back. I'm Joyce Petrowski, founder and board
president of Rose Resources Outreach to safeguard the elderly. You
can find more information on our website at Roseadvocacy dot org.
You'll also find our social media channels, and you can
subscribe down at the bottom of the homepage to our
emailed and or mailed newsletter that we send out every
(01:42):
month to get more information on scams and how to
protect yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So today.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I wanted to talk about the FBI just recently, as
of last Friday, the eight April eighteenth, issued a public
service announced FBI warns of scammers impersonating the IC three.
But before we get into that, I just wanted to
give you a little bit of background on what the
IC three, what that department actually is. So it started
(02:14):
back in two thousand and they receive complaints. They're a
division of the FBI where you file complaints and of
all types of cybercrime, including online fraud and a lot
of other types of fraud and cybercrime. And in two
(02:35):
thousand and three, well, let's say when they first started it,
it used to be called the Internet Fraud Complaint Center
the IFCC. But in October of two thousand and three.
They renamed it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which
is how they got the I, the C as in
CAT and then the number three, and that was to
(02:57):
basically so no one would distinguish it as Internet fraud,
so it would include all types of crimes matters related
to the internet, cyber.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And all of that.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
So it's the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the IC three.
The website is IC three dot gov, So with the
dot gov you can tell it's a government organization and
they file based on the data that they collect when
people file complaints, they print. They would do an annual
(03:36):
report every year, very comprehensive. It includes breaks things down
between different age populations, It breaks things down between a
number of victims, amount of losses, and it will even
talk about give you more detail on some of the
(03:57):
most reported crimes that year. Just a wealth of information.
And then they take it a step further and they
take that report with all the complaints and say we're
going to do an elder fraud report, which is for
the age population of sixty years old and older, and
then they publish that one. Now, I did just look
(04:20):
this morning, and for the reports for twenty twenty four
are not on their website, but they should be out
any day. I'm very very curious, especially with the Elder
Fraud Report, to see what the statistics are for the
calendar year twenty twenty four. Just to give you a
(04:42):
quick mission statement of the Internet Crime Complaint Center is
to provide the public and private sector with a mechanism
to submit information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so
that's the FBI concerning suspected cyber facilitated criminal activity, and
to develop effective alliances with law enforcement and industry partners.
(05:05):
Information is analyzed and disseminated for investigative and intelligence purposes
to law enforcement and for public awareness.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And just to give you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Some history on from twenty and nineteen to twenty and
twenty three. Based on the Internet Crime Complaint Centers reporting
in twenty and nineteen, and again this is all age populations,
there were three point five billion dollars in reported losses.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
That was in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Twenty twenty three, it jumped all the way to twelve
and a half billion dollars. And again that's just what's reported,
So the number of actual losses is much higher than this.
But if you combine twenty and nineteen's losses all the
way through twenty twenty, twenty one, twenty two, and twenty
(06:04):
three losses, there's over thirty seven billion dollars were reported lost.
So you can see how this is this is a
becomes a larger and larger problem every year, let's see. So,
so the IC three is a is a forum for
(06:28):
people to report their crimes. The Internet Crime Complaint Center
is a place for people to report their Internet crimes
when they've become a victim. And then the IC three
takes this information and distributes it out to the relevant
(06:49):
law enforcement departments. So if somebody is in Florida and
they're filing the report that they've been a victim, then
that information is going to get disseminated to the different
law enforcement offices in Florida in the area where this
person lives. So now we're going to get to the
(07:16):
public service announcement that they issued. Again, I said it
was on April eighteenth, which was just last Friday. So
when the FBI issues these public service announcements, it's because
they've seen an uptick in this activity that they're talking about,
and they've seen an uptick in scammers are impersonating the
(07:36):
IC three Department, just like they impersonate all other They've
impersonated a wide variety of other government agencies. They impersonate large, larger,
more well known companies. I always, even in the presentations,
I use Amazon as an example. You know, scammers love
to impersonate Amazon because.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
They know.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
The majority of the majority of us have an Amazon account.
Whether we use it or not, it's a different story,
but the majority of us have one, and so there's
a bigger chance that they're going to get more people
to click on those links in the emails or the
text messages, or call the phone number that's listed, or
(08:24):
if they happen to call, you know, answer the phone
and start engaging with them, or call them back. Because
I have seen where people have shown me that scammers
actually have started leaving voicemails. I know a lot of
times they'll say that they'll just hang up, but I've
actually listened to some people's voicemails that scammers have left.
(08:45):
So now, whether it's them or whether they've got some
computer software out there leaving those voicemails, you know, not
too sure about that, but you know, they're always looking
for ways to up their games.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
So scammers are out.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
There impersonating the Internet Crime Complaints Center, and just between
December of twenty three and February of twenty five, so
a little over a year, the FBI had received more
than one hundred reports of the IC three impersonation scams.
(09:25):
So here's here's how it works. And in the show notes,
you're going to see where we've given you the link
to the actual public service announcement if you want to
go there and read it. So, the people that complained
said the initial contact that came from the scammers varied.
Some people received an email, some people received phone calls.
(09:49):
Other people were approached on social media or other types
of online forums. So again, they have a wide If
we go back to our anatomy of a scam, what's
the first part. Part of that is the scammer has
to make contact somehow, right, And we've talked about phone calls,
text messages, social media, online chat forums, online games, dating sites, emails,
(10:19):
just a whole wide variety of ways they can make contact.
But almost all of those complaints that the FBI received,
the scammers claim to have recovered the victims lost funds
or offered to assist in recovering the funds, So they're
(10:44):
basically it's a claim in a roost to revictimize those
who have already lost money to scams. Here's a recent
example of how this impersonation scheme indicates.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
It indicates that scammers.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Create female persona profiles on social media networking sites, and
then they join groups for financial fraud victims, representing them
themselves as fellow financial fraud victims. And then the scammers
recommend actual victim victims reach out to a male persona
(11:29):
and that person alleges to be the chief director of
the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and they've noticed a lot
of that has come via telegram. I'm not too familiar
with telegram, but I understand it's another chat service, another
(11:49):
way to communicate. And then once the victim contacts the
alleged chief director of the IC three, that person claims
to have recovered that victims lost funds and then uses
(12:11):
that to gain access to their financial information, which then
will revictimize then. So this is going to be especially
for the people out there that one have already fallen
victim to an Internet crime and have whether you've reported
(12:35):
it or not, if you're joining, if you're in a
group specifically for financial fraud victims, and there could be
a wide variety of those types of groups out there. Right,
It's like a support group for just about anything. You know,
there's support groups out there for like grieving widows or widowers,
(12:56):
or support groups for different types of addictions and things
like that. So just be extremely careful if you are
in one of those support groups and somebody is trying
to tell you that you need to talk to this
(13:19):
person from the IC three because they might already have
gotten your money back or they can help you get
it back, just be very wary of that. The IC
three has said that they will never directly communicate with
individuals via the phone, email, social media, phone apps, or
public forums. If after a report is filed with the
(13:44):
IC three, if further information is needed, those individuals will
be contacted by FBI employees from local field offices or
other law enforcement officers. So again in the beginning, remember
when we said you would go to the IC three
dot gov and click on the link to file a
(14:06):
complaint or file a report and give them all of
that information. The people that are working there that are
collecting all of that information, they are taking it and
disseminating it to the appropriate local FBI field offices and
or other law enforcement of offices locally to where the
(14:28):
victim is. So this IC three is a data collection
to then be able to disseminate information. They are not
going to contact you to get more information. You will
have if more information is needed, you will have someone
from the local your local FBI office or other law
(14:50):
enforcement office contact you about the situation to get more information.
Even though the scammers might change their names and their tactics,
they have found that the scheme generally remains the same.
You think you're talking to somebody an employee of the
(15:12):
IC three and they've either already recovered your funds or
they can help you get them back, all in a
ruse to get your financial information.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
So you have to be very careful with that.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
And you never want to share any sensitive personal confidential
information with anyone that you've meant online or over the phone,
and even if you've met them in person, you want
to be extremely careful that you don't share personal confidential
information with them. You need to be very very protective
(15:47):
of that information. Have that healthy skepticism. Ask yourself in
your head the question, why do they need this information,
ask them the question, why do you need this information
if it's if it truly is a scammer. I'm sure
they're going to have answers for you, but still you
have to have that healthy skepticism and just tell yourself, no,
(16:10):
I'm not giving it. I will contact this office directly
with a phone number or an email or a website
that I know is verified for that verified office, and
I will.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Talk to them myself.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Also know that FBI, other law enforcement officers, the IC three,
all of them, none of them will ask for payment
to help recover lost funds, or will they refer you
to a company, a quote unquote company that can help
(16:50):
you recover your funds, but they need a payment in advance.
They're not going to refer you out either. And be
very careful when someone says, hey, you know there's a
fee for this, or I can help you get your funds,
or you've won this, but you need to pay. You
need to pay these fees or these taxes, or you know,
(17:12):
and you can just buy gift cards, or we have
a cryptocurrency account. You can just go to this cryptocurrency
ATM and put the money in there. Be very careful
with that. The FBI does highly suggest that if you
are a victim of.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
An online you.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Know, scam or fraud, that you do immediately report it.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Again.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
You go to the I, so the letter I, the
isn't kap the number three dot gov, and that dot
gov lets you know that it is a government website,
and try to give them as much information as you can,
so like identifying information about the person or company that
(18:07):
contacted you, Where you were contacted, how you were contacted,
the method of communication that was used, if websites, emails,
telephone numbers, If there was a financial payment made, you're
going to want to have like the date, the type
(18:27):
of payment, the amount, if there's any account numbers, the
name and address of the receiving financial institution and the
receiving cryptocurrency addresses. And then describe your interaction with the individual,
how the contact started, the type of communication, the purpose
(18:48):
of the request for money, how you were told or
instructed to make payments, what information you provided to the scammer,
and any other details about the complaint. There is a
notation here in the public service announcement that says victims
age sixty or over who need assistance filing an IC
(19:12):
three complaint, can contact the Department of Justice Elder Justice
Hotline and there's a phone number in there.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I will read it to you.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It's one eight three three and then fraud fraud one one,
So that's one eight three three three seven two eight
three one one.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And again we have the website.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
The link to this public service announcement in our show
notes that you can go directly to the to the
PSA and you can find all of this information with
this phone number. If you're sixty or over and you
need assistance filing filing the complaint form, you can call
the Department of Justice Elder Justice Hotline and they will
help you file the complaint. If you want to do
(20:02):
it yourself, it's IC three dot gov and that'll take
you directly to the page where you click on the
button to file a file a complaint with them.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
And as soon as.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
We have the IC three report for twenty twenty four,
we'll do an episode with that, and we will also
when the Elder Fraud Report comes out for twenty and
twenty four, we will highlight that to see what the
(20:38):
statistics are for two thousand and twenty four. So again,
if you can't get to the link in the show notes.
You can always just type in your Internet search bar
FBI Public Service Announcement April eighteenth, twenty twenty five, and
(20:59):
it should pop right up and you can find it
that way. But just to.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Recap, just know that.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
No one from the IC three Department of the FBI
is going to call you when.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
You filed a report.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
They gather this information and they send it out to
the appropriate local law enforcement or FBI offices local to you,
and if those offices need more information, they will reach
out to you. And if that does happen, you before
(21:37):
you want to give out any personal information, you know,
you can just say, you know, I'll call I'll call
the FBI office myself, or I'll call whatever local law
enforcement it is myself and look up their verified phone
number and you make that call, or if you know
where their office is, make an appointment to go down
(21:59):
there again. That's your way to verify that you are
actually talking to someone from the local law enforcement office
or the local FBI office. Because scammers can they've been
known to impersonate. You know, they've been impersonating law enforcement
for a long time. If you recently remember, you know,
(22:21):
well the IRS scam has been around for a long time, right,
and so a lot of people have caught onto that, Okay,
the I R S Is not going to call you,
and so you don't necessarily believe.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
With that phone call that you get.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Says you owe these back taxes, you know, so you
hang up. Well, they tell you on there on that
phone call that if you don't pay this money, that
the next you know, contact you're going to get is
from you know, your local law enforcement office because they'll
be an arrest warrant.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Well, then the.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Next phone call that comes through, it comes across with
your local law enforcement's caller ID, and now they say
they've gotten their impersonating local law enforcement saying they've got
an arrest warrant and all of that. So scammers bit
have been impersonating law enforcement for a long time. So
if you do happen to get a phone call because
(23:16):
you filed a report with the IC three and it's
coming from your local law enforcement, you still don't have
to give any information out. You can find the verified
phone number to the local law enforcement office and call
them directly back. That way, you know that you are
talking to that local law enforcement office and you are
(23:38):
not just relying on what someone is telling you, because
you know, scammers can just tell you, oh, I'm from
you know, the Phoenix Police Department, or I'm from the
local FBI office in the city of Phoenix, and we
have some questions on this report you filed. And you
very well might have filed a report and so you
think it's all legitimate, but it could just be the
(24:01):
perfect timing for the scammers. And so that's why it's
always good for you to verify, you know, to look
up that local law law enforcement office's phone number and
then call them back or make an appointment and go
down to their office and and answer the question. Is
(24:24):
that way And for you today, just be wary when
you get those phone calls or get contacted through a
wide variety of online forums somebody you know trying to
help you, you know, get your money back, especially if
you're in one of those groups for financial fraud victims. Right,
just be very very careful when someone's claiming they can
(24:46):
get your you know, get your money back. That is
up to the law enforcement, and you want to make
sure you are verifying that you are dealing directly with them,
so you can go to our website at Rosadvocacy dot
org and find some resources and tips and tools on
how to protect yourself. You can sign up for our
monthly emailed or mailed newsletters at the bottom of our
(25:10):
homepage on our website. You'll also find our social media
links on.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
There as well.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
We're on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and then our YouTube page.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
And if you have.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Any questions or want to hear a certain topic you
want to hear us discuss more about something in particular,
send us an email. You can send it to info
at Rosadvocacy dot org, or you can just go to
the homepage of our website Roseadvocacy dot org and go
all the way down to the bottom and it'll say
contact us and send us a message that way and
(25:46):
we will get back to you. So thank you for
joining us today, and remember to always verify who you
are dealing with before you give out any personal, confidential
information or any financial information. Next week, we are going
to dive into how do you know if you're on
(26:08):
a legitimate website or is it a fake website you know,
possibly a scammer's website. So we're going to dive in
on how to some tips on how to determine whether
it's a legit website or a fake website. So tune
in next Tuesday at eight am and we'll have some
(26:29):
tips on on how to do that. Thank you everyone.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Well that's all the knowledge for this episode. June in
every Tuesday at eight am Pacific time on KFOURHD Radio
at KFOURHD dot com as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge.
So you have the power to make scam protection you're
healthy habit, and until then, feel free to reach out
to Joyce and let's talk about scams.
This program is designed to provide general information with regards
to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,
legal counseling, professional service, or any advice.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You should seek the services.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.
The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational
purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional
legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted
sources and references. However, Rose Resources outreach to safeguard the
(00:45):
elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to
a scam. Let's talk about scams. It's the must listen
show for anyone who wants to protect themselves and their
loved ones from scams. Every Tuesday am Pacific time on
K four HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and
(01:06):
her guests will provide valuable insights and practical tips on
how to recognize and protect yourself from scams. And now
here is your host, Joyce Petrowski.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Hi, everybody, welcome back. I'm Joyce Petrowski, founder and board
president of Rose Resources Outreach to safeguard the elderly. You
can find more information on our website at Roseadvocacy dot org.
You'll also find our social media channels, and you can
subscribe down at the bottom of the homepage to our
emailed and or mailed newsletter that we send out every
(01:42):
month to get more information on scams and how to
protect yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So today.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I wanted to talk about the FBI just recently, as
of last Friday, the eight April eighteenth, issued a public
service announced FBI warns of scammers impersonating the IC three.
But before we get into that, I just wanted to
give you a little bit of background on what the
IC three, what that department actually is. So it started
(02:14):
back in two thousand and they receive complaints. They're a
division of the FBI where you file complaints and of
all types of cybercrime, including online fraud and a lot
of other types of fraud and cybercrime. And in two
(02:35):
thousand and three, well, let's say when they first started it,
it used to be called the Internet Fraud Complaint Center
the IFCC. But in October of two thousand and three.
They renamed it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which
is how they got the I, the C as in
CAT and then the number three, and that was to
(02:57):
basically so no one would distinguish it as Internet fraud,
so it would include all types of crimes matters related
to the internet, cyber.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And all of that.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
So it's the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the IC three.
The website is IC three dot gov, So with the
dot gov you can tell it's a government organization and
they file based on the data that they collect when
people file complaints, they print. They would do an annual
(03:36):
report every year, very comprehensive. It includes breaks things down
between different age populations, It breaks things down between a
number of victims, amount of losses, and it will even
talk about give you more detail on some of the
(03:57):
most reported crimes that year. Just a wealth of information.
And then they take it a step further and they
take that report with all the complaints and say we're
going to do an elder fraud report, which is for
the age population of sixty years old and older, and
then they publish that one. Now, I did just look
(04:20):
this morning, and for the reports for twenty twenty four
are not on their website, but they should be out
any day. I'm very very curious, especially with the Elder
Fraud Report, to see what the statistics are for the
calendar year twenty twenty four. Just to give you a
(04:42):
quick mission statement of the Internet Crime Complaint Center is
to provide the public and private sector with a mechanism
to submit information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so
that's the FBI concerning suspected cyber facilitated criminal activity, and
to develop effective alliances with law enforcement and industry partners.
(05:05):
Information is analyzed and disseminated for investigative and intelligence purposes
to law enforcement and for public awareness.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And just to give you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Some history on from twenty and nineteen to twenty and
twenty three. Based on the Internet Crime Complaint Centers reporting
in twenty and nineteen, and again this is all age populations,
there were three point five billion dollars in reported losses.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
That was in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Twenty twenty three, it jumped all the way to twelve
and a half billion dollars. And again that's just what's reported,
So the number of actual losses is much higher than this.
But if you combine twenty and nineteen's losses all the
way through twenty twenty, twenty one, twenty two, and twenty
(06:04):
three losses, there's over thirty seven billion dollars were reported lost.
So you can see how this is this is a
becomes a larger and larger problem every year, let's see. So,
so the IC three is a is a forum for
(06:28):
people to report their crimes. The Internet Crime Complaint Center
is a place for people to report their Internet crimes
when they've become a victim. And then the IC three
takes this information and distributes it out to the relevant
(06:49):
law enforcement departments. So if somebody is in Florida and
they're filing the report that they've been a victim, then
that information is going to get disseminated to the different
law enforcement offices in Florida in the area where this
person lives. So now we're going to get to the
(07:16):
public service announcement that they issued. Again, I said it
was on April eighteenth, which was just last Friday. So
when the FBI issues these public service announcements, it's because
they've seen an uptick in this activity that they're talking about,
and they've seen an uptick in scammers are impersonating the
(07:36):
IC three Department, just like they impersonate all other They've
impersonated a wide variety of other government agencies. They impersonate large, larger,
more well known companies. I always, even in the presentations,
I use Amazon as an example. You know, scammers love
to impersonate Amazon because.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
They know.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
The majority of the majority of us have an Amazon account.
Whether we use it or not, it's a different story,
but the majority of us have one, and so there's
a bigger chance that they're going to get more people
to click on those links in the emails or the
text messages, or call the phone number that's listed, or
(08:24):
if they happen to call, you know, answer the phone
and start engaging with them, or call them back. Because
I have seen where people have shown me that scammers
actually have started leaving voicemails. I know a lot of
times they'll say that they'll just hang up, but I've
actually listened to some people's voicemails that scammers have left.
(08:45):
So now, whether it's them or whether they've got some
computer software out there leaving those voicemails, you know, not
too sure about that, but you know, they're always looking
for ways to up their games.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
So scammers are out.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
There impersonating the Internet Crime Complaints Center, and just between
December of twenty three and February of twenty five, so
a little over a year, the FBI had received more
than one hundred reports of the IC three impersonation scams.
(09:25):
So here's here's how it works. And in the show notes,
you're going to see where we've given you the link
to the actual public service announcement if you want to
go there and read it. So, the people that complained
said the initial contact that came from the scammers varied.
Some people received an email, some people received phone calls.
(09:49):
Other people were approached on social media or other types
of online forums. So again, they have a wide If
we go back to our anatomy of a scam, what's
the first part. Part of that is the scammer has
to make contact somehow, right, And we've talked about phone calls,
text messages, social media, online chat forums, online games, dating sites, emails,
(10:19):
just a whole wide variety of ways they can make contact.
But almost all of those complaints that the FBI received,
the scammers claim to have recovered the victims lost funds
or offered to assist in recovering the funds, So they're
(10:44):
basically it's a claim in a roost to revictimize those
who have already lost money to scams. Here's a recent
example of how this impersonation scheme indicates.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
It indicates that scammers.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Create female persona profiles on social media networking sites, and
then they join groups for financial fraud victims, representing them
themselves as fellow financial fraud victims. And then the scammers
recommend actual victim victims reach out to a male persona
(11:29):
and that person alleges to be the chief director of
the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and they've noticed a lot
of that has come via telegram. I'm not too familiar
with telegram, but I understand it's another chat service, another
(11:49):
way to communicate. And then once the victim contacts the
alleged chief director of the IC three, that person claims
to have recovered that victims lost funds and then uses
(12:11):
that to gain access to their financial information, which then
will revictimize then. So this is going to be especially
for the people out there that one have already fallen
victim to an Internet crime and have whether you've reported
(12:35):
it or not, if you're joining, if you're in a
group specifically for financial fraud victims, and there could be
a wide variety of those types of groups out there. Right,
It's like a support group for just about anything. You know,
there's support groups out there for like grieving widows or widowers,
(12:56):
or support groups for different types of addictions and things
like that. So just be extremely careful if you are
in one of those support groups and somebody is trying
to tell you that you need to talk to this
(13:19):
person from the IC three because they might already have
gotten your money back or they can help you get
it back, just be very wary of that. The IC
three has said that they will never directly communicate with
individuals via the phone, email, social media, phone apps, or
public forums. If after a report is filed with the
(13:44):
IC three, if further information is needed, those individuals will
be contacted by FBI employees from local field offices or
other law enforcement officers. So again in the beginning, remember
when we said you would go to the IC three
dot gov and click on the link to file a
(14:06):
complaint or file a report and give them all of
that information. The people that are working there that are
collecting all of that information, they are taking it and
disseminating it to the appropriate local FBI field offices and
or other law enforcement of offices locally to where the
(14:28):
victim is. So this IC three is a data collection
to then be able to disseminate information. They are not
going to contact you to get more information. You will
have if more information is needed, you will have someone
from the local your local FBI office or other law
(14:50):
enforcement office contact you about the situation to get more information.
Even though the scammers might change their names and their tactics,
they have found that the scheme generally remains the same.
You think you're talking to somebody an employee of the
(15:12):
IC three and they've either already recovered your funds or
they can help you get them back, all in a
ruse to get your financial information.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
So you have to be very careful with that.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
And you never want to share any sensitive personal confidential
information with anyone that you've meant online or over the phone,
and even if you've met them in person, you want
to be extremely careful that you don't share personal confidential
information with them. You need to be very very protective
(15:47):
of that information. Have that healthy skepticism. Ask yourself in
your head the question, why do they need this information,
ask them the question, why do you need this information
if it's if it truly is a scammer. I'm sure
they're going to have answers for you, but still you
have to have that healthy skepticism and just tell yourself, no,
(16:10):
I'm not giving it. I will contact this office directly
with a phone number or an email or a website
that I know is verified for that verified office, and
I will.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Talk to them myself.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Also know that FBI, other law enforcement officers, the IC three,
all of them, none of them will ask for payment
to help recover lost funds, or will they refer you
to a company, a quote unquote company that can help
(16:50):
you recover your funds, but they need a payment in advance.
They're not going to refer you out either. And be
very careful when someone says, hey, you know there's a
fee for this, or I can help you get your funds,
or you've won this, but you need to pay. You
need to pay these fees or these taxes, or you know,
(17:12):
and you can just buy gift cards, or we have
a cryptocurrency account. You can just go to this cryptocurrency
ATM and put the money in there. Be very careful
with that. The FBI does highly suggest that if you
are a victim of.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
An online you.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Know, scam or fraud, that you do immediately report it.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Again.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
You go to the I, so the letter I, the
isn't kap the number three dot gov, and that dot
gov lets you know that it is a government website,
and try to give them as much information as you can,
so like identifying information about the person or company that
(18:07):
contacted you, Where you were contacted, how you were contacted,
the method of communication that was used, if websites, emails,
telephone numbers, If there was a financial payment made, you're
going to want to have like the date, the type
(18:27):
of payment, the amount, if there's any account numbers, the
name and address of the receiving financial institution and the
receiving cryptocurrency addresses. And then describe your interaction with the individual,
how the contact started, the type of communication, the purpose
(18:48):
of the request for money, how you were told or
instructed to make payments, what information you provided to the scammer,
and any other details about the complaint. There is a
notation here in the public service announcement that says victims
age sixty or over who need assistance filing an IC
(19:12):
three complaint, can contact the Department of Justice Elder Justice
Hotline and there's a phone number in there.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I will read it to you.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It's one eight three three and then fraud fraud one one,
So that's one eight three three three seven two eight
three one one.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And again we have the website.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
The link to this public service announcement in our show
notes that you can go directly to the to the
PSA and you can find all of this information with
this phone number. If you're sixty or over and you
need assistance filing filing the complaint form, you can call
the Department of Justice Elder Justice Hotline and they will
help you file the complaint. If you want to do
(20:02):
it yourself, it's IC three dot gov and that'll take
you directly to the page where you click on the
button to file a file a complaint with them.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
And as soon as.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
We have the IC three report for twenty twenty four,
we'll do an episode with that, and we will also
when the Elder Fraud Report comes out for twenty and
twenty four, we will highlight that to see what the
(20:38):
statistics are for two thousand and twenty four. So again,
if you can't get to the link in the show notes.
You can always just type in your Internet search bar
FBI Public Service Announcement April eighteenth, twenty twenty five, and
(20:59):
it should pop right up and you can find it
that way. But just to.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Recap, just know that.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
No one from the IC three Department of the FBI
is going to call you when.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
You filed a report.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
They gather this information and they send it out to
the appropriate local law enforcement or FBI offices local to you,
and if those offices need more information, they will reach
out to you. And if that does happen, you before
(21:37):
you want to give out any personal information, you know,
you can just say, you know, I'll call I'll call
the FBI office myself, or I'll call whatever local law
enforcement it is myself and look up their verified phone
number and you make that call, or if you know
where their office is, make an appointment to go down
(21:59):
there again. That's your way to verify that you are
actually talking to someone from the local law enforcement office
or the local FBI office. Because scammers can they've been
known to impersonate. You know, they've been impersonating law enforcement
for a long time. If you recently remember, you know,
(22:21):
well the IRS scam has been around for a long time, right,
and so a lot of people have caught onto that, Okay,
the I R S Is not going to call you,
and so you don't necessarily believe.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
With that phone call that you get.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Says you owe these back taxes, you know, so you
hang up. Well, they tell you on there on that
phone call that if you don't pay this money, that
the next you know, contact you're going to get is
from you know, your local law enforcement office because they'll
be an arrest warrant.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Well, then the.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Next phone call that comes through, it comes across with
your local law enforcement's caller ID, and now they say
they've gotten their impersonating local law enforcement saying they've got
an arrest warrant and all of that. So scammers bit
have been impersonating law enforcement for a long time. So
if you do happen to get a phone call because
(23:16):
you filed a report with the IC three and it's
coming from your local law enforcement, you still don't have
to give any information out. You can find the verified
phone number to the local law enforcement office and call
them directly back. That way, you know that you are
talking to that local law enforcement office and you are
(23:38):
not just relying on what someone is telling you, because
you know, scammers can just tell you, oh, I'm from
you know, the Phoenix Police Department, or I'm from the
local FBI office in the city of Phoenix, and we
have some questions on this report you filed. And you
very well might have filed a report and so you
think it's all legitimate, but it could just be the
(24:01):
perfect timing for the scammers. And so that's why it's
always good for you to verify, you know, to look
up that local law law enforcement office's phone number and
then call them back or make an appointment and go
down to their office and and answer the question. Is
(24:24):
that way And for you today, just be wary when
you get those phone calls or get contacted through a
wide variety of online forums somebody you know trying to
help you, you know, get your money back, especially if
you're in one of those groups for financial fraud victims. Right,
just be very very careful when someone's claiming they can
(24:46):
get your you know, get your money back. That is
up to the law enforcement, and you want to make
sure you are verifying that you are dealing directly with them,
so you can go to our website at Rosadvocacy dot
org and find some resources and tips and tools on
how to protect yourself. You can sign up for our
monthly emailed or mailed newsletters at the bottom of our
(25:10):
homepage on our website. You'll also find our social media
links on.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
There as well.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
We're on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and then our YouTube page.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
And if you have.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Any questions or want to hear a certain topic you
want to hear us discuss more about something in particular,
send us an email. You can send it to info
at Rosadvocacy dot org, or you can just go to
the homepage of our website Roseadvocacy dot org and go
all the way down to the bottom and it'll say
contact us and send us a message that way and
(25:46):
we will get back to you. So thank you for
joining us today, and remember to always verify who you
are dealing with before you give out any personal, confidential
information or any financial information. Next week, we are going
to dive into how do you know if you're on
(26:08):
a legitimate website or is it a fake website you know,
possibly a scammer's website. So we're going to dive in
on how to some tips on how to determine whether
it's a legit website or a fake website. So tune
in next Tuesday at eight am and we'll have some
(26:29):
tips on on how to do that. Thank you everyone.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Well that's all the knowledge for this episode. June in
every Tuesday at eight am Pacific time on KFOURHD Radio
at KFOURHD dot com as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge.
So you have the power to make scam protection you're
healthy habit, and until then, feel free to reach out
to Joyce and let's talk about scams.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com