Recently the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about an imposter scam that starts with a phone call that appears to come from John Krebs, the Chief Privacy Officer of the FTC.  The scammer, posing as John Krebs identifies himself as “agent” John Krebs and tells you that you are being investigated for money laundering and that in order to resolve the matter you need to deposit money into a Bitcoin ATM.  The call even appears on your Caller ID as coming from the FTC, but as I have told you many times, it is easy for a scammer to “spoof” the FTC’s phone number and manipulate your Caller ID to make it appear as if the call is coming from the FTC when it is actually coming from the scammer’s phone.

TIPS

In regard to FTC agents, there is no such position.  The FTC does not have agents so anyone claiming to be one is a scammer.

The biggest red flag in this type of scam is to remember that no governmental agency will ever under any circumstances direct you to withdraw your funds and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM. Nor will any government agency ever ask for payment by gift cards or payment apps such as Zelle or Venmo, however, these are all favorite forms of payment of scammers.

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