As technology evolves at a rapid pace, so do online scams. Even with the age of AI-enabled safeguards, we still see these attacks becoming more creative. One such case is currently unfolding, at least in the U.S. The FBI has begun warning smartphone users about a new type of scam that impersonates police or federal agents to extort money or steal personal information.
According to the FBI’s latest warning, scammers employ “intimidating and fear tactics,” often via email, SMS, and phone calls. The latter has become a more prominent method recently.
How Is the Phone Scam Deployed?
This specific attack is described as a form of phone call that uses a spoofed number, which makes it appear to come from a legitimate federal office or agency. The attacker will pose as a police officer, an attorney, or a federal agent and claim that you have a violation or an unpaid jury ticket. They then demand that you settle an amount to avoid a charge being filed against you. If you resist, they start to threaten to arrest you and tell you that you’ll end up incurring more legal fees.
The scam can also be modified to make it appear that a family member has been involved in an accident and is currently in jail. A similar case happened in Hawaii this month. Fortunately, the victim hung up the call from a caller posing as an attorney and demanding cash to be transferred, and immediately confirmed with their bank if the call was legitimate.
There are also cases of scammers asking victims to liquidate their assets into cash and forcing them to purchase gold bars or silver to hand over to them. Likewise, the caller can also trick you into giving your personal information, like a Social Security number and bank account details, if they cannot squeeze money from you.
Protect Yourself from Phone Call Scams
The FBI says that users can protect themselves in various ways. One is to “be wary of answering phone calls from numbers you don’t recognize” and to hang up immediately if you feel a call is suspicious. You should also check the legitimacy of the call by contacting the authorities yourself. Plus, they advise never to give sensitive information like a Social Security number over the phone to someone you don’t know.
Beyond those measures, companies like Google, Samsung, and Apple are offering advanced safeguards in their devices and software. Google uses a more capable AI model in Android phones to better screen for scam and spam calls and messages. Similarly, iPhones have recently received on-device spam detection to identify and flag potential scam calls.
Have you enabled security and privacy features on your phone? We’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments.