Beware of Imposter Scams

Imposter scams are one of the many ways scammers defraud their victims. They impersonate government or police authorities and scare or threaten you with dire consequences if you don’t comply with their demand for money or personal information that lets them steal money.

Examples of Imposter Scams

You get a call, email, or text from “the fraud department” at your bank “alerting” you to a large withdrawal. Then, they ask you for personally identifying information or tell you to transfer the money in the account to a “safe” account.

Someone claiming to be from the police department calls. They say they have an active warrant for your arrest and to avoid being arrested, you have to pay them immediately.

An imposter claiming to be from the Social Security Administration contacts you and says your social security account has been frozen due to criminal activity.  They ask you to verify your Social Security number and ask for payment to reinstate the account. They threaten to arrest you if you don’t comply.

Imposter Scam Losses

Sadly, imposters are very good at duping their victims and they’re getting better. A 2026 Federal Trade Commission  (FTC) report found that people lost a staggering $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025. That amount was nearly three times the losses in 2020.

According to the FTC report, nearly $1 billion of those losses went to business imposters, most of whom were pretending to be banks. Government imposters bilked their victims of about $920 million.

How Imposters Contact Their Victims

Imposters contact their victims by phone, in email, through texts, social media, search engine results, or in person.

They pretend to be an organization you know and trust. They may know your name and other information. And they call or contact you from phone numbers, websites or email addresses that are spoofed to look like they belong to the institution or agency they are impersonating.

Sometimes they are fraudsters using a fake personas to perpetrate romance scams.

They may use AI to create deep fakes of voices – for instance a relative claiming to need cash because of an accident or legal problem.

In person, fraudsters will dress to look like the authority figure they are pretending to be.

Who Imposter Scammers Target

The fraudsters often target older adults because they have accumulated money for retirement and are seen as easy marks who tend to trust authority.

But no one is immune to imposter scams. Anyone can become a target of an imposter scam.

Don’t Fall for Imposter Scams  

Scammers are master manipulators. They use lies, deception, flattery and urgency to build trust, and play on your emotions so you act without independently verifying who they are or that what they claim is true.

But you can outsmart them and avoid becoming their victim. Here’s how:

Know the Warning Signs of Imposter Scams

Imposter scams, like many other types of scams, use fear, trust, threats, secrecy, and deception to coerce their victims to comply.

• Unsolicited contact, or questionable contact method
• Sudden and rapidly developing romantic interest from someone you’ve me, especially online
• Significant and urgent problem stated or hinted at
• Insist on you providing personal information, account numbers and or money to solve the problem
• Require immediate action
• Threaten dire consequences or loss for non-action

Avoid the Scam

Don’t rush to act if you get an unexpected call, text, email, or visit from a financial institution, business, government agency, or police. And don’t rush to provide money or other support to people who you’ve never met in person, or who you haven’t known for very long. Instead, do this:

• Stop. Don’t panic. Don’t do what the contact asks.
• Verify the claim yourself. Find the agency’s real website or telephone number independently. Use the number on the back of your credit card to call your credit card company directly. Call your bank or log into your bank account directly to look for fraudulent transactions. Never use the link or phone number the caller gave you.
• Verify the person is who they say they are. Search for their name and image and credentials online and by calling institutions they claim to be with.
• Don’t click links in texts or emails. If you have fraud alerts set up on bank and credit accounts and get an alert, don’t click the link you were sent to verify the transaction. The email could be spoofing your financial institution, and the link could be fraudulent. Instead, log into your account directly from the company’s website.
• Don’t provide any identifying information. Legitimate organizations and agencies aren’t going to contact you unexpectedly and ask for your Social Security number, passwords, bank information or credit card information.
• Don’t send money because someone threatens you, threatens harm to a family member or friend, or claims someone you know needs urgent medical treatment.
• Never move money to “protect it”
• Hang up if the call seems suspicious.

Remember: Don’t Panic. Verify.

If you get contacted about an urgent matter, don’t panic. Remember, that’s what scammers want you to do. Take a deep breath, hang up or close the electronic correspondence. If you are worried the  “problem”   could be real, contact any involved institutions or people directly.

Fake notice image source: Gemini

Explainer video based on this article.  Accompanying images created by VidWow.