FBI Impersonation Scam Warning: 7 Ways to Protect Your Home

$A smartphone rings on a dark table at night as a glowing, fractured voice waveform rises from it.$

Image: AI-generated illustration

As of October 29, 2026.

The phone rings. The caller ID shows a real government number. The voice on the line is firm and official, or worse, it sounds exactly like your son. There is a problem, it is urgent, and it must be fixed with money today.

Preparedness is not only about water and flashlights. Protecting your household also means protecting its money, its accounts and its trust. A September 2026 FBI warning shows why.

What the FBI said

In a September 17, 2026, public service announcement from its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), titled “Scammers Impersonating Law Enforcement and Government Officials in Fraud Schemes”, the FBI reiterated its warning about “ongoing widespread fraud schemes” in which scammers pose as U.S. or foreign officials to extort money or personal information. The announcement updates an earlier FBI alert from March 2022.

The numbers are sobering. According to the FBI:

Between January 2025 and July 2026, IC3 received nearly 61,000 complaints of law enforcement or government impersonation scams, with losses totaling more than $1.6 billion.
Fake jury-duty and missed-court-date scams accounted for 6,833 complaints and nearly $36 million in losses.
Fake “your license or passport is expiring” scams accounted for 496 complaints and more than $348,000 in losses.
Scams targeting medical practitioners over their licenses led to 3,322 complaints and more than $37 million in losses.

The FBI says scammers “often spoof authentic phone numbers, email addresses, employee names, and credentials” of real agencies. They use “urgent and aggressive tones,” keep victims on the phone, and urge them not to tell family, friends or their bank. They demand payment through prepaid cards, couriers, bank wires, cryptocurrency, or cash inserted into cryptocurrency kiosks.

And the FBI adds a newer twist: scammers use artificial intelligence to appear as law enforcement and government officials on video calls, “adding the appearance of legitimacy to the scam.”

AI makes the voice sound real, too

This is not the FBI’s first warning about AI. In a December 3, 2024, alert, IC3 PSA241203 (I-120324-PSA), it warned that criminals can “generate short audio clips containing a loved one’s voice to impersonate a close relative in a crisis situation, asking for immediate financial assistance or demanding a ransom,” and can use AI-generated audio to try to get into bank accounts.

The Federal Trade Commission explains how simple this has become. A scammer needs only “a short audio clip of your family member’s voice,” perhaps from content posted online, and a voice-cloning program. The FTC’s advice is just as simple: “Don’t trust the voice.”

What this means for your household

You do not need to be afraid of the phone. You need a plan that everyone in the house knows before the call comes. Here are seven steps drawn directly from FBI and FTC guidance.

1. Choose a family code word

The first tip in the FBI’s December 2024 AI alert (IC3 PSA241203, I-120324-PSA, Dec. 3, 2024) is: “Create a secret word or phrase with your family to verify their identity.” Pick something that cannot be found on social media, not a pet’s name or a street you lived on. Share it in person with everyone in the home, including grandparents. If a “relative” calls in a crisis and can’t give the word, hang up.

2. Hang up and call back

Both agencies teach the same habit: verify by calling a number you already know. The FBI says to hang up, look up the bank or organization yourself, and call it directly. Don’t use contact information the caller gives you. For a family emergency, the FTC says to call your loved one on a number you know is theirs, and if you can’t reach them, to check with another family member or friend, even if the caller said to keep it secret.

Remember the FBI’s rule: real law enforcement and government officials will never call or text to demand payment, or ask for sensitive personal information that way.

3. Turn on two-factor authentication (MFA)

Passwords alone are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, the FTC warns. It calls two-factor authentication “like using two locks on your door.” Even a hacker who knows your password can’t get in without the second factor. Start with your bank, credit cards, email, social media, tax filing site and payment apps. The FTC notes that an authenticator app or a security key is more secure than a text-message code.

And never read a verification code to anyone. The FTC is blunt: “Anyone who asks you for your account verification code is a scammer.”

4. Freeze your credit

A credit freeze means nobody can open a new credit account in your name. According to the FTC, it is free, it does not affect your credit score, and it lasts until you lift it. You place it by contacting all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. When you need to apply for credit, you can lift it temporarily. Parents can also request a free freeze for children under 16.

5. Never pay by gift card, crypto or wire because a caller says so

The FTC says it plainly: “No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy a gift card to pay them.” The FBI says officials will never ask for payment by prepaid card, cryptocurrency or courier. If someone tells you which card to buy, asks you to read the numbers off the back, or stays on the phone while you drive to a store or a crypto kiosk, stop. It’s a scam.

6. Share less of your voice and face publicly

The FBI suggests limiting the photos and recordings of yourself online where possible, making social media accounts private and limiting followers to people you know. The FBI says this helps minimize what fraudsters can use to create fake identities with AI.

7. Know where to report

If it happens to you or someone you love, the FBI says to stop all contact, call your bank right away, file a report with local police, and file a complaint at ic3.gov. The FTC also takes reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you paid with a gift card, the FTC says to contact the card company right away and ask for your money back.

Add it to your kit

Write your bank’s fraud number, the three credit bureaus and your family code-word plan on the paper contact list in your emergency kit. A steady savings cushion also makes a sudden “emergency” call easier to meet with calm instead of a rushed payment. Our emergency fund guide shows how to build one.

Wise, not afraid

The FBI and FTC describe the same two pressure tactics again and again: urgency and secrecy. The caller says it must be done now, and that you mustn’t tell anyone. The answer is to slow down and bring someone else in.

Jesus told His disciples they would go out among wolves, and He did not tell them to panic. He told them to be wise:

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”
Matthew 10:16 (KJV)

A shepherd’s household can be gentle and still be nobody’s fool.

Your one faithful step this week

At dinner this week, choose your family code word together and practice it once: “If anyone ever calls saying you’re in trouble, what do I ask?” Then turn on two-factor authentication for one account, the email that resets all your others.

The Good Shepherd

FBI Warns of $1.6 Billion in Impersonation Scams, Now with AI. How to Protect Your Family