67-year-old fraud victim scammed out of $400,000: Online scammers pretended to be federal agents

The number of people filing complaints of suspected crimes with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has been on the rise. In the agency’s latest annual report reported losses were 33% higher than the year before, surpassing $16 billion.

The group that filed the most complaints and reported the most losses in 2024 were those aged 60 and older. This group is especially attractive to con artists as they generally have more money from savings built up over their lifetimes.

Seniors should beware of scammers impersonating FBI agents

One tactic to separate targeted individuals from their money is pretending to be FBI agents warning them that their retirement savings are at risk. Such a case occurred to the 67-year-old father of James Yancy as reported recently by USA TODAY.

The father shared with his son one day that federal agents had informed him that his identity had been stolen. He explained that the FBI and IRS were working with him to protect his savings by holding onto them until the thieves could be captured.

He had liquidated roughly $400,000 that he held in his accounts and converted the funds into gift cards, bitcoin and gold which he had handed over to the scammers. Alarm bells immediately began sounding for the 33-year-old, and he had to inform his father that he had been scammed.

The 67-year-old is not alone in falling for this kind of con. Judith Boivin shared her experience with The Washington Post last year. Crooks managed to strip her of almost $600,000. The con artist pulled off the same scam on 12 other victims stealing $2.9 million in total.

She had been convinced that she was dealing with a real agent after looking up the name the crook was using, and those of other fake colleagues, online. She only realized it was a complete fake when a Maryland state fraud investigator pointed out that the con artist’s email did not end with the official “@fbi.gov,” but instead “@usa.com.”

How to avoid scammers impersonating FBI agents

Given the increase in con artists impersonating FBI agents and other government officials, the Portland bureau office put out a public warning on what to be looking for to avoid falling victim to these scams. It states that the FBI will never:

• Call or e-mail private citizens to demand payment or threaten arrest. You will also not be asked to wire a “settlement” to avoid arrest.
• Ask you to use large sums of your own money to help catch a criminal.
• Ask you for wire transfers or gift cards.
• Call you about “frozen” Social Security numbers or to coordinate inheritances.

Some red flags that should alert you in the event a person contacts you via email claim to be from the government or FBI that it is a fraud are as follows:

• Misspellings
• Missing words
• Incorrect grammar

“Fraudulent e-mails may give the appearance of legitimacy by using pictures of the FBI Director and/or the FBI seal and letterhead,” warns the law enforcement agency.

The FBI encourages those who doubt whether the person contacting them is a real employee of the bureau to call the FBI Portland Division at 503-224-4181 and ask to be connected directly. The public is also asked to contact local law enforcement and FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov if you are a victim of any type of scam.

Additionally, if you receive a scam phone call or email, you may report it to the Federal Trade Commission online or by calling 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357).

Those over the age of 60 who have lost money as a victim of a scam are asked to contact the National Elder Fraud Hotline by calling 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).

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