The FBI Louisville Field Office has seen an increase in reported fraud schemes targeting Kentuckians through unsolicited phone calls in which scammers impersonate law enforcement or government officials to extort money or steal personally identifiable information.
Criminal scammers represent themselves as officials from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies across Kentucky, and contact victims using spoofed phone numbers and a variety of other tactics to appear legitimate. Currently, the most prevalent variation of this scheme seen by FBI Louisville is the scammer impersonating a local sheriff’s office. The scammers falsely accuse the victim of not reporting for jury duty or missing a court date and may claim an arrest warrant has been issued against the victim. The scammers pressure and instruct the victim to immediately pay a fine to avoid arrest or other negative consequences. To increase the perceived legitimacy of the fraud or impersonation, scammers may also use Artificial Intelligence (AI), provide official-looking court documents, or may already have personal identifiable information about the victim. In the instance of the scammer impersonating a local sheriff’s office, fraudulent federal court or federal agency documents are often used.
Government and law enforcement impersonation scams come in various forms, most commonly through phone calls and emails, and they all seek to exploit victims through intimidation. Scammers use an urgent and aggressive tone, refuse to speak to or leave a message with anyone other than their targeted victim; and urge victims not to tell anyone else, including family, friends, financial institutions, or other law enforcement departments about what is occurring. Payment is demanded in various forms, with the most prevalent being cash deposited into cryptocurrency ATMs, prepaid cards, and wire transfers…