The FBI does not initiate contact through social media direct messages to assist with fund recovery. Scammers, however, frequently do, often by posing as agents to gain a victim’s trust.
To combat this, the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued an updated warning this week regarding a rise in online impersonation schemes running online specifically designed to target and revictimize individuals who’ve already been scammed before.
Two versions are currently in play.
The first relies on fake accounts in which scammers build social media profiles and pages made to look like FBI personnel or the IC3 itself. Some even infiltrate online groups frequented by fraud victims to gather to compare notes, while other fraudsters reach out directly to individuals, including via Facebook Messenger.
A timing-based variant often follows in cases where the scam target mentions that they plan to report the incident to the FBI or file a complaint. An impersonator then contacts them, claiming to be an FBI agent, and steers them toward a fake IC3 update page or keeps the conversation going on a messaging app.
The second scheme uses AI video with scammers generating clips depicting senior FBI officials directing viewers to a spoofed IC3 website to “report” crimes. Any data that gets entered there goes straight to the perpetrators running the operation, who then use the information to work the victim again. Similar AI depictions of other public figures are being used the same way to make the setup appear legitimate.
“Some individuals received an email or a phone call, while others were approached or observed an advertisement via social media or forums,” the IC3 said in a statement. “Almost all complainants indicated the scammers claimed to have recovered the victim’s lost funds or offered to assist in recovering funds,” the agency added.
Spotting the red flags
The tell is simple and doesn’t require judging how convincing a profile or video looks. The IC3 first off has zero social media presence. The center also does not investigate crimes through social media, nor does it recover funds through the medium.
“Any social media profiles or pages claiming to represent IC3 or offering to recover lost money are fraudulent and are actively attempting to steal your personal or financial information,” the agency explained. “IC3 will never directly communicate with individuals via phone, email, social media, phone apps, online chat, or public forums,” the center added.
Anyone who files a legitimate report through the real IC3 website will instead hear from an FBI employee at a local field office or from another law enforcement official.
One more thing worth knowing is that posting publicly about getting scammed puts a target on your back. The people behind these schemes actively monitor such posts to look for their next mark.
Source: IC3, FBI, Internet Crime Report (IC3), Field Office Post (FBI), The Register