How to Tell If Someone Is Impersonating the FTC

If someone claiming to be from the FTC threatens you, demands money, or tells you to move funds to "protect" them, it is a scam. The FTC says it will never threaten you, tell you to transfer money to protect it, or instruct you to withdraw cash or buy gold and hand it to someone. The real agency does not operate that way, and its own site warns that scammers are actively impersonating FTC staff.

What the FTC says it will never do

The clearest test is behavior. According to the FTC's own warning, a genuine FTC contact will not:

• Threaten you — for example, with arrest, legal action, or loss of benefits — to force immediate compliance.
• Tell you to transfer money to "protect" or "safeguard" it.
• Tell you to withdraw cash or buy gold and give it to another person.

Any call, text, email, or message that does one of these things is a scam, regardless of how official the caller ID or message looks.

Why impersonation works, and how to check

Scammers rely on the agency's authority: people assume a government caller has power to compel action. The FTC's site addresses this directly through its Recognize an FTC Impersonator page, which explains the pattern and tells people to report it. Use that page as your reference point rather than trusting the contact itself.

Practical checks:

1. Slow down. Urgency and threats are the scam's main tools. A real agency notice does not depend on you acting within minutes.
2. Do not send money or buy gold based on a call. No legitimate FTC process asks for this.
3. Verify independently. Go to ftc.gov directly rather than using links or numbers provided by the caller.
4. Check current consumer alerts. The FTC publishes alerts about active scams, including impersonation schemes, so a fresh alert may describe exactly what you were told.

What to do if you are contacted

Report it to the FTC. The site's Take Action area includes a Report fraud option, and the impersonation page directs people to report to the FTC. Reporting helps the agency track schemes and warn others.

The FTC also publishes Consumer Alerts on its news and updates section. Recent examples on the site include alerts warning that "the FTC is not calling to deactivate your phone number" and guidance on avoiding deceptive sextortion assistance services — both illustrations of how impersonation and related scams are framed for the public.

Quick reference

The short version: judge the contact by what it asks you to do, not by who it claims to be. Threats, money transfers, cash withdrawals, and gold purchases are the tells. When in doubt, stop, verify on ftc.gov, and report.