The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has updated its warning about scammers who pose as the bureau’s own fraud-reporting staff to prey on people who have already lost money once. The update, issued July 20, 2026, revises an alert the FBI first published in April 2025, and it describes two ways criminals now impersonate IC3 personnel: through direct messages on social media and through AI-generated video of senior FBI officials. Both versions target the same group, according to the agency: people who have recently been scammed and have said, or shown signs of planning to say, that they intend to report the fraud.
IC3 stresses in the update that it has no social media presence, does not investigate crimes or recover funds through outside platforms, and never directly contacts individuals by phone, email, social media, or chat. Any account or video suggesting otherwise, the agency says, is being run by the same kind of criminal who caused the original loss.
The “Re-Targeting” Scheme Playing Out on Facebook Messenger
In the pattern IC3 describes as most common right now, a person who has been defrauded begins to realize it and tells the scammers responsible that they plan to report the incident to the FBI. Soon after, someone claiming to be an FBI agent contacts that same person on Facebook Messenger, then shifts the conversation to Telegram. The impersonator sends a link and asks the victim to update the IC3 complaint they are about to file or have already filed. IC3 says that link can carry malicious code or can simply be another way to collect financial details, feeding a second round of theft from someone already trying to recover from the first.
Deepfake Videos Promoting a Spoofed IC3 Website
The second method IC3 flags relies on AI-generated video. Scammers have circulated deepfake clips depicting a senior FBI official encouraging viewers to file a complaint through what looks like the agency’s own website. The spoofed site copies the structure and content of the real IC3 government page closely enough to pass a glance, but its function is limited: it accepts only a single-step form asking for a name, phone number, email address, scam type and estimated financial loss, and every other link on the page loops back to the same home screen. After someone submits that form, the site issues a reference number and a promise that a representative will follow up, a step IC3 says never actually happens through a legitimate channel.
How Far the AI Deception Extends Beyond Video Clips
The tactic is not limited to pre-recorded clips. IC3 notes that scammers also generate AI video for real-time video chats, posing as company executives, law enforcement officers, or other authority figures to “prove” to a target that the person on the call is genuine, and they pair that with caller-ID spoofing so the incoming number appears to match a real agency line. The combination of fear, urgency and a seemingly live face on the screen is what the bureau says makes this version of the scheme more convincing than a text message or email alone.
An Update to a Warning First Issued in April 2025
This July 2026 notice formally revises an earlier public service announcement the FBI released in April 2025 under the same title, and IC3 frames the new details as an evolution of an existing scheme rather than a brand-new one. What has changed since the first alert, according to the bureau, is the sophistication of the tools: deepfake video generation and spoofed-site construction have both become easier to produce convincingly, which is why the update spends more time than the original on the specific visual and technical tells of a fake.
The Tells the FBI Says Give Away a Fake Video or Message
IC3’s list of warning signs centers on small inconsistencies that AI-generated content still tends to produce: distorted hands or feet, unrealistic or irregular facial features, mismatched shadows, watermark artifacts, lag during a voice call, and movements that read as slightly unnatural. The agency also recommends listening closely to tone and word choice, since voice cloning can now sound nearly identical to a known contact, and treating any message that provokes a strong emotional reaction as a reason to pause and verify through a separate, known channel before responding.
Where to Report an Impersonation Attempt
The update repeats a short list of things IC3 says the real agency never does: it does not maintain any social media accounts, does not ask for payment in exchange for recovering lost funds, and does not initiate contact by phone, email, chat app, or online forum. It also restates a financial rule that predates the deepfake tactics: never send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or other assets to someone met only online or by phone, no matter how official the request sounds. Anyone contacted by a suspected impersonator, or anyone who has interacted with a spoofed version of the site, can file a report with the real IC3, including the impersonator’s contact details, the platforms used, and any financial transaction information involved. The bureau’s update also points anyone aged 60 or older who needs help filing a complaint to the Justice Department’s Elder Justice Hotline, a detail carried over from the original 2025 alert because older victims are disproportionately targeted by recovery-scam follow-ups.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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