The standard advice is to hang up and call the agency back. FBI Newark's warning of September 29, 2026 describes callers who have planned for exactly that.
Victims in New Jersey reported callers posing as FBI, DEA and Secret Service agents. The callers spoofed the phone numbers of real federal field offices and introduced themselves using the names of real agents.
When a victim called the field office to check, the person answering confirmed, truthfully, that the agent worked there. Where nobody answered, the familiar number on the caller ID did the persuading on its own.
One fraudster went further and held a video meeting with the background staged as an FBI office, complete with a desk, an FBI seal and a man in a suit. The FBI's release does not say artificial intelligence was involved. It did not need to be.
The same day, in Irvington, New York, police arrested a man at a staged cash pickup.
According to a local report of the arrest, an elderly resident had received calls from someone claiming FBI affiliation, who said the resident's bank account had been compromised and instructed them to withdraw cash as part of an effort to catch the people responsible.
Over several days the resident handed about $20,000 to a runner. Detectives learned another pickup was planned, watched the location and made the arrest on September 29.
The two items fit together. The caller supplies an emergency about the victim's own money, then reframes the withdrawal as helping an investigation. The courier turns a phone conversation into a physical hand-off, often repeated over days.
What changes for professionals is the meaning of a client's reassurance. A client who says they already confirmed the agent with the office has not ruled anything out. The more useful record is the agency named, the agent's name given and the number shown, written down as observed.
The FBI's own guidance is blunter: never send money to anyone claiming to be a federal law enforcement agent, and if a field office cannot be reached, call the agency's main office instead.
If this is your family
Agree on one household rule: no one in the family pays or hands cash to anyone who says they are the FBI, the police or a government agency, whatever number they call from. If someone tries, your parent calls you first, and you call the agency's main number together.
Sources
FBI Newark, "FBI Newark Issues Warning About Insidious New Twist on an Old Fraud Scheme," September 29, 2026: https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/newark/news/fbi-newark-issues-warning-about-insidious-new-twist-on-an-old-fraud-scheme
Newport Dispatch, "Man arrested in elder fraud scheme in Irvington," September 30, 2026: https://www.newportdispatch.com/2026/09/30/man-arrested-in-elder-fraud-scheme-in-irvington/