FTC Warning about Impostor Scams
We warned about impostor scams way back in 2019. Wait a minute, has it been five years already? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a warning that scammers are now using the Federal Trade Commission’s good name in an attempt to trick people, stealing their money and their personal information. Please be advised, scammers are impersonating FTC employees.
What exactly is the FTC? The Federal Trade Commission enforces a variety of antitrust and consumer protection laws. This government agency targets fraud and goes after practices that pose the greatest harm to consumers. One example of such fraud included a case just recently settled in which two different tech support firms agreed to pay $26 million to settle FTC charges against them. Consumers were deceived into buying repair services they did not need. The FTC made undercover purchases of antivirus software tools from Restoro and Reimage. Both companies based in Cyprus, tricked consumers into signing up for computer repair services through deceptive pop-up ads and Internet ads offering a free scan for viruses. The pop-up ads falsely warned that computers were damaged or infected by viruses. FTC investigators, after making their purchases, received a phone number to call in order to “activate” the services. During the calls, telemarketers falsely claimed that the investigators’ computer had performance or security issues. They were pushed to buy repair services from a “technician.” These repair plans would cost anywhere from $200 to $500. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, deceptive marketing is a violation, and the FTC was empowered to go after the deceptive companies.
Getting back to the impostor scam. Americans lost $1.1 billion to impersonation scams in 2023, more than three times what consumers reported in 2020. You can no longer trust your caller ID. Scammers can make it look like they are calling from anywhere, including the FTC. Someone might call, email, text or send a message to you on social media, claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission. They may use the name of a person that actually works at the FTC.
In the FTC warning. reports include several scams. Someone calls to say that you have won a sweepstakes or the lottery, but you must send money to collect your prize. Someone warns that your assets will be frozen until you pay a debt, or you will be faced with a fine or a lien if you don’t pay. Someone tells you that he/she will help you recover money you may have already lost in a scam. Someone informs you that he/she is collecting back taxes or immigration fees. If someone threatens to fine you, put you in prison or take your property unless you pay – it is a scam. If anyone contacts you claiming they will protect you from being scammed but first you need to wire money or get a gift card or buy cryptocurrency, it is a scam. Anyone that demands secrecy and requires you to act quickly is a scammer. The FTC will never demand money or ask for personal information. The FTC will never threaten to arrest, deport or punish you. The FTC does not give away awards, grants or conduct sweepstakes or lotteries. If anyone contacts you pretending to be the FTC, you need to go to the ReportFraud.ftc.gov page and file as much information as you can.
Finally, you may ask, how does the FTC actually try to communicate with you? If you reported something to the FTC and provided an email address, you will get an email with advice about how to recover and protect yourself. If you are getting a refund or payment from an FTC case, you will get it by check, prepaid debit card or a deposit to a PayPal account. The payment or claim form will tell you more about the case and why you are getting the money. To see a list of FTC cases that resulted in refunds which includes the name of the company sending payments and a phone number to call with questions, you can go to ftc.gov/refunds.
Next month we will cover the new Impersonation Rule that went into effect in April as the FTC continues to fight fraud.
Two Techs – your locally owned computer support company. Find Two Techs on the web at www.twotechs.com or email us at: support@twotechs.com or call 352-200-2365. USF, MIS, MCP, A+, Network+ & CISSP (References used FTC, Bleeping Computer, PC Mag)