The latest warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation deals with a scam that hits close to home for the agency.

Criminals are impersonating the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3, to scam victims. Between December 2023 and February 2025, the FBI has received more than 100 reports of IC3 impersonation scams.

How the scam works

What makes the scam so insidious is it targets those whose money or information has been stolen in the past.

While the initial contact varies, most of the individuals targeted in the scam report receiving an email or phone call or being approached via social media with promises to help recover the target’s lost funds or assist in recovering money.

In truth, the victim is just targeted again and could end up losing even more.

Targeting financial fraud victims

According to the FBI, one variant of the scam involves the creation of a female persona on social media who joins an online group for financial fraud victims and claims to have been a victim themselves. Then, the scammer recommends people reach out to a male persona – Jaime Quin has been a common name used – the alleged “Chief Director” of IC3. Once contacted, “Quin” claims to have recovered the lost funds but in actuality uses the ruse to gain access to financial information to revictimize the person.

Scammers change tactics and aliases but the scheme generally remains the same – the thieves will ask for sensitive information like bank account numbers, Social Security numbers or other personally identifiable information.

How do you protect yourself

IC3 will never directly communicate with individuals via phone, email, social media, phone apps or public forms and any message claiming to be from a federal agency should set of alarm bells.

IC3 will not ask for payment to recover lost funds, nor will they refer a victim to a company requesting payment for recovering funds.

Do not send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or other assets to people you do not know or have met only online or over the phone.

If you’ve been a victim of a scheme or suspect you’re being targeted, contact www.ic3.gov. If possible, supply identifying information about the person or company that contacted you and methods of communication such as a website, email or telephone numbers.

You should also provide date, type and amount of any payment and descriptions of your interaction with the individual.