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A caller ID that appears to belong to an FBI field office—and a caller who gives the name of a real agent—still does not prove the caller is an FBI employee. In a September 29, 2026 warning, FBI Newark described a scam in which impersonators exploit that gap: someone checking whether the named agent works at the bureau may receive a truthful confirmation, but that does not authenticate the person who called. The warning follows reports from New Jersey; it does not say every phone owner has been targeted or quantify the reach of this specific tactic.
How the FBI impersonation scam works
FBI Newark says reported impersonators claimed to represent the FBI, DEA, or Secret Service. The tactic combines familiar fraud methods with a misleading verification step:
- An unsolicited caller claims to be a federal law-enforcement agent.
- The number shown on caller ID is spoofed to resemble a field-office number, and the caller uses the name of a real agent.
- The target independently calls the office and asks whether that agent works there. An employee may confirm the agent is real, but that confirms employment—not that the original caller was that agent or was calling on the agency’s behalf.
- In at least one case reported by Newark, the impersonator used a virtual meeting with a background staged to look like an FBI office.
Caller ID and a real employee’s name are details a fraudster can misuse; neither is an identity check. Newark’s notice describes the local tactic but does not report that the cases involved AI. A separate FBI/IC3 alert says impersonators more broadly may use AI to appear to be officials on video calls.
Sources: FBI Newark, September 29, 2026; FBI/IC3, September 17, 2026.
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How to tell whether an FBI agent calling you is real
Do not try to authenticate an incoming call by calling back the number it displays, using a number the caller gives you, or asking only whether a named agent works at the agency. Instead, find the agency’s official public contact number independently and call it. Explain that you suspect an impersonation attempt and ask whether the agent is contacting you. If you cannot reach a local office, FBI Newark advises contacting the agency’s main office.
Until the contact is verified, do not share sensitive personal information or follow instructions to move money, keep the matter secret, or avoid an imminent arrest or prosecution. The FBI/IC3 says law-enforcement and government authorities will not contact members of the public by telephone or text to demand payment or request personal or sensitive information. Its alert also identifies payment demands involving prepaid cards, cryptocurrency, courier delivery, bank wires, or cash deposited at cryptocurrency kiosks as warning signs.
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Source: FBI/IC3 public service announcement, September 17, 2026.
What the reported figures do—and do not—show
FBI/IC3 figures illustrate the scale of reported government and law-enforcement impersonation fraud overall. They are not a count of victims of Newark’s specific verification-evasion tactic, for which the Newark notice provides no victim total or local loss estimate.
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| IC3 category | Complaints | Reported losses | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government or law-enforcement impersonation scams overall | Nearly 61,000 | More than $1.6 billion | January 2025–July 2026 |
| Jury-duty or missed-court-date impersonation | 6,833 | Nearly $36 million | January 2025–July 2026 |
| Scammers impersonating government officials or law enforcement against victims in the specific fraud type summarized in that part of the alert | 3,322 | More than $37 million | January 2025–July 2026 |
| Impersonation targeting people associated with foreign countries, including threats involving foreign law enforcement, extradition, or home-country passports | 1,809 | More than $140 million | January 2025–July 2026 |
These are complaints and losses reported to IC3 for the categories and period shown. They should not be attributed to the Newark cases or treated as a measure of how common this particular phone-verification trick is.
Source: FBI/IC3, September 17, 2026.
What to do if someone claiming to be federal law enforcement contacts you
- Stop the conversation and verify independently. Do not use contact details supplied by the caller. Find the agency’s official public number and ask whether the alleged agent is contacting you.
- Do not pay. The FBI/IC3 says officials will not demand payment by phone or text or ask for payment by prepaid card, cryptocurrency, or courier.
- If you sent money or shared account details, act quickly. Contact your financial institutions to safeguard affected accounts, notify local law enforcement, and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
- Keep evidence. Save messages, emails, phone numbers, payment records, and other communications. If the impersonator used a virtual meeting, FBI Newark advises taking photos or recording video and submitting it at tips.fbi.gov.
Sources: FBI Newark, September 29, 2026; FBI/IC3, September 17, 2026.
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Why caller-ID and spam-blocking apps are not verification
Filtering tools may help flag unwanted calls, but they cannot establish that a person behind a spoofed number is an agent. The official advice is procedural: independently locate the agency’s number, call it yourself, and ask whether the alleged contact is genuine. A matching caller ID or a correct agent name does not replace that check.
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