If the 'FTC' texts you a badge and offers to get your lost money back, hang up

Getting scammed once is bad enough. A con that's spreading this month goes back for the people it already burned. Fraudsters pose as Federal Trade Commission employees, contact someone who lost money in an earlier scam, and offer the thing that victim wants most: help getting it back. The FTC put out a fresh warning about it after a run of reports.

What makes this one land is the props. To "verify" they're real, the callers now text you a photo of an FTC badge or employee ID - completely fake, but convincing at a glance. They use the names of actual agency staff, spoof the FTC's real Washington phone number on your caller ID, and lean on urgency. Then comes the ask: move money "to keep it safe," pay a fee to release your "recovered" funds, or hand over gift-card codes, crypto or your banking login. Because they often know details from old breaches, a stranger reciting your information can feel legitimate when it isn't.

The line the FTC keeps repeating is the one to remember: a real FTC employee won't text you, won't send a photo ID to prove who they are, and will never tell you to move money or pay a fee to get money back. The government doesn't work through gift cards or wire transfers. If you get a call or text like this, don't engage - report it straight to ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and if you've already shared anything, call your bank.

These scams often lean on personal details leaked in past breaches to sound believable. Tendvane's Privacy & accounts check shows you which of your accounts have turned up in known data leaks, so when someone rattles off your old information you know where they got it - and that it doesn't make them who they claim to be.