The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued an official warning about the growing number of fraudulent transactions that use courier services to collect money and other valuable resources from victims. The main targets of these scams are the elderly. Fraudsters, posing as technical support staff or government representatives, persuade people to sell their assets (including gold, silver, and other valuables) and hand them over to couriers to protect them from fictitious threats.
"Our warning concerns fraudsters who force victims, including the elderly, to convert their assets into cash or buy precious metals," the FBI said.
Fraudsters are most often represented by employees of technical support, financial institutions, or government agencies. They claim that the victim's financial accounts have been hacked or are under threat.
People are then asked to convert the assets into cash or precious metals, or transfer the money to dealers who, it is claimed, will later deliver the purchases to their home address. To convince the victim of the legality of the transaction, criminals provide special codes to confirm the transaction with the courier.
After receiving resources, scammers disappear.
From May to December 2023, the FBI's Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3) recorded a sharp increase in such incidents, with total losses exceeding $ 55 million.
To protect yourself, the FBI recommends:
Never send gold or other precious metals upon a request received by telephone, even if the caller claims to represent a legitimate organization or government agency.
Do not share your personal address and avoid meeting strangers to transfer cash or jewelry.
Do not pay attention to pop-up windows, do not click on links from unverified sources, and do not install unfamiliar software or grant access to the computer to strangers.
Earlier, state services have already paid attention to the increasing number of cases of so-called " phantom hacker scams "(phantom hacker scams). The term refers to a type of fraud in which criminals trick their victims into believing that their computers or accounts have been hacked.
According to data for the first half of 2023, the damage from this scheme amounted to more than $ 542 million. There were also complaints about fraudsters who also presented themselves as employees of financial institutions and redirected their interlocutors to fake web pages that mimic portals for returning payments. The main target was also senior citizens.
"Our warning concerns fraudsters who force victims, including the elderly, to convert their assets into cash or buy precious metals," the FBI said.
Fraudsters are most often represented by employees of technical support, financial institutions, or government agencies. They claim that the victim's financial accounts have been hacked or are under threat.
People are then asked to convert the assets into cash or precious metals, or transfer the money to dealers who, it is claimed, will later deliver the purchases to their home address. To convince the victim of the legality of the transaction, criminals provide special codes to confirm the transaction with the courier.
After receiving resources, scammers disappear.
From May to December 2023, the FBI's Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3) recorded a sharp increase in such incidents, with total losses exceeding $ 55 million.
To protect yourself, the FBI recommends:
Never send gold or other precious metals upon a request received by telephone, even if the caller claims to represent a legitimate organization or government agency.
Do not share your personal address and avoid meeting strangers to transfer cash or jewelry.
Do not pay attention to pop-up windows, do not click on links from unverified sources, and do not install unfamiliar software or grant access to the computer to strangers.
Earlier, state services have already paid attention to the increasing number of cases of so-called " phantom hacker scams "(phantom hacker scams). The term refers to a type of fraud in which criminals trick their victims into believing that their computers or accounts have been hacked.
According to data for the first half of 2023, the damage from this scheme amounted to more than $ 542 million. There were also complaints about fraudsters who also presented themselves as employees of financial institutions and redirected their interlocutors to fake web pages that mimic portals for returning payments. The main target was also senior citizens.
