Fake FBI agents are scamming Chicagoans, and here’s how you can avoid imposters

Fake badges, real danger — the FBI is on alert and needs your help stopping imposters posing as federal agents.

The bureau is warning the public to be alert for those cammers, who use convincing tactics to fool their victims.

When you think of an FBI agent, a few unmistakable markers come to mind, chiefly badges and windbreakers, according to experts.

“The believable windbreaker, I have the same windbreaker in my car,” said Lucas Rothaar, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge

But Rothaar is urging residents not to be fooled by the props.

“People are impersonating FBI agents in a super realistic fashion,” he said.

Rothaar says repeated tips about specific impersonators prompted the FBI’s Chicago office to issue a rare public warning. He says the fake agents don’t usually reach out to victims directly.

“The call would start off from somebody [claiming to be] from a bank and say, ‘hey, we’re suspecting that you’re either a victim of a fraud or you’re involved in a fraud and we’re gonna transfer you over to the local FBI office’. That’s often how the introduction is made,” he said.

Next, victims are pressured into continuing the conversation on a video conferencing app like Zoom, Teams or even WhatsApp.

“That’s where the high pressure continues. Like, ‘no, you cannot tell anybody. You have to act immediately. Please do not tell anybody or else you’re gonna be in more trouble’,” said Rothaar. “The perpetrators of the crime are asking for bank account information, they’re asking to send a media payment via credit card, converting money to cryptocurrencies, in any way possible to try to pull money out of their accounts.”

And even if this all sounds like the type of scam you’d see coming from a mile away, there’s one extra tool scammers use that can immediately disarm you.

“People can spoof a phone number so even if that phone number it looks like it’s coming across as The FBI number here in Chicago, 312-421-6700, people can spoof that to make it look like it’s coming from FBI Chicago. So the extra step is to call us, verify the agent’s identity. We have people that answer the phone 24 hours a day, verify that the person they are indeed talking to is an FBI agent,” he said.

The FBI wouldn’t release more details about these imposters, but says victims have lost millions. Agents say reporting the scam immediately offers the best chance of recovering that money through seizures, forfeiture, or other legal action.

They say it’s a priority because impersonators erode public trust in the FBI and law enforcement.