Cybercriminals are impersonating employees of the FBI division devoted to combating online scams, attempting to take advantage of people who have already lost money to digital fraudsters.
The FBI said Friday that between December 2023 and February 2025 it received more than 100 complaints of people trying to pass themselves off as representatives of its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The center handles reports of online scams along with other digital crimes.
While this may seem especially brazen compared to other kinds of online fraud, the IC3 impersonation complaints represent just a small fraction of those reported to IC3 each year. In 2023 alone (the most recent year available) IC3 recorded more than 880,000 online scam complaints accounting for $12.5 billion in losses.
In the IC3 impersonation scams, the FBI says the cybercriminals initially made contact with their targets in a variety of ways including through emails, phone calls, social media messages and online forums. Almost all of the scammers claimed to have recovered money lost by the targets, or said they were offering help with recovering lost money.
In reality, the scammers were looking to revictimize people that had already lost money due to previous online scams, the FBI says.
In one case, the FBI says scammers created female personas on social media sites and infiltrated online groups for financial fraud victims, pretending to be victims themselves. The scammers would then encourage actual victims to reach out through Telegram to a male persona they had created named “Jaime Quin” who they claimed was IC3’s “chief director.”
Once contacted, the “Quin” persona would claim to have recovered their lost money, but then would use that lie to get victims to handover their financial information, allowing the scammers to victimize them yet again.
How To Avoid Getting Scammed
Here’s how to spot and avoid FBI and other impersonation scams.
The FBI doesn’t use Telegram. The FBI does not reach out through messaging apps, social media, public forums, email or texts. Delete and report these kinds of unsolicited messages.
IC3 doesn’t charge for help. IC3 will never ask you for payment to recover money lost in a scam, or refer you to a company that asks for payment to recover your money.
Keep your private information private. Never share sensitive data like your banking information, online account logins or Social Security number with someone who reached out to you online or over the phone.
Ignore requests for money. Never send money, cryptocurrency or gift cards as a form of payment to someone you don’t know or have only dealt with online or on the phone.
Help prevent future crimes. Report scams and scam attempts to IC3. Victims aged 60 or over who need help filing a complaint can contact the Department of Justice Elder Justice Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).