If an online deal is too good to be true, it might be a scam. l Rodion Kutsaiev, Unsplash.
Published on April 22, 2024 at 2:29 pm
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Scammers posing as IRS agents or other people are increasing their ruse across Florida, the FBI warns.
The scams are known as “impersonation scams,” when a crook poses as a person, brand or organization to commit a fraud. They may pretend they’re the IRS, the FBI, the local court, Amazon or someone else with an interest in your money.
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FBI data shows that impersonation scams in Florida have increased 84% per capita over the past five years. The Tampa branch of the Internal Revenue Service — which covers Northeast Florida — has issued a new warning for people to be on the lookout for imposter scams now that tax season is over.
The IRS said Thursday that scammers posing as IRS officials have increased their phone calls to potential victims. Scammers are telling people they qualify for tax forgiveness or they owe taxes and face arrest if not paid.
In 2023, the latest data available, impersonation scams were the third most frequent fraud in the U.S., totaling more than $1.3 billion in losses, the FBI says. (Phishing and personal data breaches were the top reported fraud crimes.)
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The FBI said those figures are on the conservative side because they represent only scams that were reported. The frequency and amount of loss is probably higher.
Kirk Spielmaker with the FBI Jacksonville said the number of impersonation scams locally has remained generally consistent, but he warned that scams evolve from year to year.
“There are sophisticated, organized crime groups, in fact, that are doing this. They tend to have an international nexus to them, meaning that ultimately the funds are traveling overseas to a variety of countries,” Spielmaker said.
Scammers have a typical playbook they use to rip you off, Spielmaker said. Scammers will contact potential victims misrepresenting themselves through a phone number or some other form of communication that could look legitimate. They could pose as someone with a government agency or possibly from places where people have personal accounts like Amazon or a bank.
The scammers will urgently tell potential victims there is fraud detected on one of their accounts. For the account to remain safe, the person is told to send the scammers information or the remaining funds in the account.
Scammers might use more urgent tactics to keep a victim on the phone to scare them, warning potential victims not to tell anyone what is going on and even sending people to a person’s home to pick up money.
Sometimes the people enlisted to show up don’t even know they’re part of a scam, Spielmaker said.
Last week, an 81-year-old Ohio man was indicted on murder and other charges after shooting a 61-year-old woman he believed was trying to rob him.
Investigators said 81-year-old William Brock had received scam phone calls from someone pretending to be an officer from the local court demanding money and making threats. The woman shot, Loletha Hall, was an Uber driver told to retrieve a package from Brock’s home.
How to stay safe
The FBI receives thousands of impersonation reports a year, so it is difficult to properly investigate and prosecute all of the bad actors. The best way to stay safe is to understand what to do, officials say.
Carl Scaffidi, chief information security officer for Vystar Credit Union, said if someone calls you and asks for personal information, stop and think.
“Stop, look, think before you act. Always ask why,” Scaffidi said. “My favorite letter in the alphabet is the letter “Y” because why do we need to do this? Let’s not move too fast. Let’s make sure that nobody’s going to pressure us into doing something we don’t want to do.”
Representatives from the FBI and Vystar said law enforcement, government agencies and banks will not contact you asking for banking or account information.
If you feel something isn’t right, hang up the phone, stop communicating with the scammers and call your bank or personal account to verify what you were told. Then call law enforcement to file a report, and report the scam to the FBI at IC3.gov.
These are the same steps to take if you feel you have already been ripped off, Spielmaker said.
When you are reporting a scam to the FBI, you should document and report as many details as possible about what happened. That can help law enforcement get your money back if possible and help investigators develop patterns to help prevent the scammers from targeting others.
