Be careful if you receive calls, emails or text messages from people claiming to work for the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC): it is most likely a scam.
This alert was issued by the FTC itself earlier this week, warning Americans of an ongoing fraud campaign aimed at stealing their hard-earned money. BleepingComputer reports.
In the alert, the FTC says it has received numerous reports from people who have fallen victim to these scams.
Stealing people’s gold bars
“The FTC will never tell consumers to move their money to ‘protect’ it. The FTC will never direct consumers to a Bitcoin ATM, tell them to go buy gold bars, or require them to withdraw money and take it to someone in person. will also never contact consumers to demand money, threaten to arrest or deport them, or promise a price,” the agency said.
“In light of increasing complaints about impersonation fraud, the FTC recently announced that it has finalized the Government-Industry Impersonation Rule, which gives the agency stronger tools to fight scammers and return money to consumers who have been harmed suffered by imitators.”
Since the FTC was talking about buying gold bars, or personally delivering cash to someone, this alert is most likely related to the alert the FBI sent out in late January of this year. At the time, the law enforcement agency warned about fake “tech support” agents claiming to work for the U.S. government and telling their victims, especially the elderly, that their accounts had been “targeted.”
To ‘safeguard’ their money, they were advised to buy gold bars, after which the fraudsters would send couriers to collect them and keep them ‘safe’.
The average financial loss in this scheme, BleepingComputer reported, has skyrocketed over the past five years, from $3,000 in 2019 to $7,000 in 2024. Additionally, the FBI received more than 14,000 reports last year from people posing as the government. The majority of the victims were of older age.