On October 22, 2026 the Federal Trade Commission published a consumer alert titled "The FTC is not calling to deactivate your phone number." The alert, as far as its excerpt shows, describes a caller posing as an FTC official who says a phone registered in your name is being used for crimes.
We could read only the opening of the alert, so we cannot say what the caller asks for next. The shape, though, is familiar.
The same call, different agency
A federal indictment announced October 21 describes a Massachusetts resident who took a call from someone posing as Social Security, was told they had been charged with a crime, and withdrew about $248,000 from a retirement account.
Prosecutors allege the money ended up in five bank accounts. These are allegations, and the release does not give the victim's age.
On the BBB Scam Tracker, one person in Glendora, California, reported voicemails dated October 22 from a caller who said a "licensed state of California official" would deliver documents "accompanied by uniformed officer." That is one person's account and nothing in it has been confirmed by an agency or a court.
A check that needs no argument
The thread in all three is an official voice, a crime, and a reason to act at once. You do not need to judge whether the caller is real. You only need a way to find out without using the caller's number.
Did the caller say a government agency was involved? Then the habit is to hang up and look up that agency's number yourself, in a phone book or on its website, and call that.
Did the caller give a number to call back? Ignore it. A number a stranger supplies leads back to the stranger.
Did the caller set a deadline? A deadline is a reason to slow down, because it is the part the caller needs.
Ask your parent to practise it once with you, using a made-up call. People who have rehearsed it can do it while frightened.
If this is your family
Tell your parent this sentence and ask them to say it back: "I'll call you back on the number I look up myself." It works on any official-sounding caller, and it gives them something to say that does not require deciding who is lying.
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