FTC Warns: Scammers Posing as FTC Staff Threaten to Deactivate Your Phone Number
The Federal Trade Commission issued a consumer alert on October 22 warning that scammers are calling people while posing as FTC officials, claiming that a phone registered in the victim's name in another country is being used to commit scams, and threatening to deactivate the victim's own phone number unless they cooperate. The agency's verdict is blunt: none of this is true, and it is all a scam.
According to the FTC, the scheme unfolds in stages. The impostor first reads out a fake badge number as proof of identity, then "transfers" the victim to a fake police officer to file a report. If the victim hesitates, the scammers may tell them to look up the police department's number online and call it themselves, but the people who answer are part of the same scheme. The fake officer then asks for identification and personal information for the supposed report and insists the matter be kept secret. Finally, the victim is told they are under arrest for the scams tied to their number and must travel to another country, unless they send money for a "security deposit."
The FTC says a real employee will never do four things: ask you to send money or connect you with someone who demands it, threaten to disconnect your phone, tell you to keep the conversation secret, or text you a photo of an employee ID. A badge number or an ID photo proves nothing, because both can be fabricated.
Anyone who gets such a call should hang up and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov; anyone who already shared identification should go to IdentityTheft.gov for a recovery plan and consider a credit freeze. The FTC says people reported losing about $920 million to government imposters in 2025. In a separate release on October 29, the agency said registrars had taken down 19 fake FTC websites over the past year, and that 14 enforcement actions under its Impersonation Rule since 2024 had produced more than $80 million in consumer redress.
FTC release: efforts to combat imposter scams
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国联邦贸易委员会总部大楼Apex Building（资料图）。Harris & Ewing 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Apex Building, headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission (file photo). Photo by Harris & Ewing, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
