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A government impersonation scam usually starts with a phone call that sounds official and urgent: you missed jury duty, a warrant exists, a license is expiring, or a federal agent needs to talk to you. The FBI says nearly 61,000 complaints about callers posing as law enforcement or government officials were filed between January 2025 and July 2026, with losses of more than $1.6 billion.
This guide covers the scripts the FBI says scammers use, the red flags, and what to do in the first hour if you already paid. It is general information, not legal advice.
In this guide
- What the FBI’s numbers show
- The four scripts behind a government impersonation scam
- Red flags in the first minute
- The one rule that protects you
- Five steps if you already paid
- Why this season is risky
- Editor’s take
What the FBI’s numbers show
The figures come from a public service announcement issued Sept. 17 by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Across all the scripts, complaints reached nearly 61,000 and losses topped $1.6 billion, which works out to roughly $26,000 per complaint by our arithmetic. That average hides a wide range.
Jury duty and missed-court-date calls drew 6,833 complaints and nearly $36 million in losses, about $5,300 each on average. Calls about an expiring passport, driver’s license or professional license drew 496 complaints and over $348,000, around $700 each. Medical license threats drew 3,322 complaints and over $37 million, roughly $11,000 each. Foreign law enforcement or diplomat impersonation drew 1,809 complaints and over $140 million, about $77,000 each.
The pattern is worth noticing: the scripts that frighten people most, with threats of extradition or losing a career, are the ones that cost the most per victim. These are the complaints filed, and the FBI does not say how many victims never report, so the real totals may be higher.
The four scripts behind a government impersonation scam
The FBI describes the most common approach as accusing you of a crime and threatening arrest or prosecution unless you pay to remove charges or help with an investigation. That accounts for the majority of complaints. Within it, callers use four main stories.
The first is jury duty or a missed court date, where you are told you owe a fine or that a warrant exists. The second is an expiring passport, driver’s license or professional license, with a renewal fee demanded on the spot. The third is a medical license that was supposedly used in a crime or is about to be revoked. The fourth is a caller linked to a foreign government who threatens extradition or cancellation of a home-country passport.
The details vary, but the shape does not: an official-sounding voice, a serious problem and a fast way to make it go away, which always involves payment or personal information.
Red flags in the first minute
The FBI lists the tactics. Scammers sound urgent and aggressive. They refuse to let you speak with, or leave messages for, anyone else. They keep you on the phone the whole time, and they urge you not to tell family, friends, banks or police. They spoof phone numbers, emails and agency credentials, and sometimes use AI-enabled video calls to look the part.
The payment methods are another giveaway. The FBI says scammers ask for prepaid cards, couriers, bank wires, cryptocurrency, or cash deposited into crypto kiosks. No legitimate agency collects fines that way. If a caller wants you to stay on the line while you go to a store or kiosk, that alone is enough reason to hang up.
The one rule that protects you
The FBI’s central message is simple: government and law enforcement agencies do not call or text people to demand payment of any kind or to request personal or sensitive information, and they never ask for payment by prepaid card, cryptocurrency or courier.
That means you can end a call without needing to prove anything. If you want to check, hang up and contact the agency yourself using official, publicly listed contact information, not a number or email the caller gave you. Check web addresses against the official domain too, because lookalike sites may end in “.com” where a real agency would use “.gov.”
Texts follow the same rule. Our guide to spotting a scam text and what to do if you replied covers the message version of the same trick.
Five steps if you already paid
If you sent money or shared account details, speed matters. The FBI’s advice has five parts. First, stop all contact with the scammers and do not send anything more. Second, tell your financial institutions right away so they can protect your accounts and may be able to stop or flag a transfer. Third, contact your local law enforcement agency and file a report.
Fourth, file a complaint at www.ic3.gov, and include the scammer’s phone numbers and email addresses, payment details such as bank account information or cryptocurrency addresses, and copies of texts, emails and other messages. Fifth, keep all financial records and communications. If you shared an identity number or account details, consider our walkthrough on how to freeze your credit at all three bureaus.
Do not be embarrassed about reporting. The scripts are designed by professionals to overwhelm careful people, and the reports help investigators connect cases.
Why this season is risky
Scammers borrow real deadlines. A ScamDrill roundup of October scam trends, which cites FTC and AARP alerts we did not independently verify, notes that Medicare open enrollment for 2027 coverage runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, and that paid search ads and lookalike web addresses can lead to fake plans. Its advice is to type official addresses directly and skip results labeled as ads. Our Medicare open enrollment guide lists the real steps.
A practical habit helps: agree on a family code word for emergencies, and tell relatives that no agency will ask for payment by phone. The same roundup points out that voice-cloned calls pretending to be a relative in trouble are a related risk, and a code word is a simple defense.
Editor’s take
Do this first: decide now that you will never pay or share account details on a call you did not start. A government impersonation scam works because it asks you to decide under pressure, and a rule you made in advance removes the decision. Hang up, look up the number yourself, and call back.
What to watch next: the FBI’s updates through ic3.gov, and any new scripts that appear around tax season and enrollment deadlines.
