The Daily Red Flag #039: The FTC call that isn't the FTC
THE SCAM
Your phone rings, and the caller says he's from the FTC. Bad actors in another country have registered a phone under your name and number and are using it to commit scams, he says. He reads off a fake badge number and warns you that your phone will be deactivated unless you cooperate. Then he offers to "transfer" you to a police officer so you can file a report.
That officer is a scammer too. He asks for your state-issued ID and other personal info for the bogus police report, and tells you to keep everything secret. Some time later, another call arrives: you're supposedly under arrest for the crimes committed under your number, and you'll have to travel to another country to sort it out — unless you send money for a "security deposit."
The sneakiest part: if you doubt the story, they tell you to look up the police department's phone number yourself. But they also tell you exactly what to search — and the number you find leads right back to them. "It feels like you're verifying the story, but it's all part of their scheme," the FTC said. "None of this is true — it's all a scam."
THE RED FLAG
Real FTC employees will never contact you about sending money — under any circumstances. They will never threaten to disconnect your phone number, never transfer you to someone who asks for payment, and never ask you to keep the conversation secret from your family or bank.
The imposter playbook is designed to answer your objections before you raise them. Fake badge numbers, a fake officer handoff, even a texted photo of a supposed employee ID — the FTC says it never does that. Every piece of "proof" they hand you is a prop.
THE RULE
Hang up, then look the agency up yourself — and never use the search terms they gave you. Type the agency's real site address yourself (ftc.gov) or call the number you find on an official site, not the one they fed you. Real warnings from real agencies arrive in public announcements, not cold calls demanding money.
If the same threat lands as a text or voicemail, delete it and don't engage. And if you already gave them personal info, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov — the FTC's own fraud reporting site.
Read it online: https://erawaeb.com/digest/daily/039-the-ftc-call-that-isn-t-the-ftc/
(Source: FTC consumer alert, October 22, 2026)