Greg's Corner

Scammers trick victims into sending money to fake ‘federal locker’

By Greg Collier

There is a government/police impersonation scam that’s been around for a while. Now, scammers have added a new element to the scam to make the scam appear more legitimate.

In this scam, scammers call their victims posing as a member of law enforcement. Typically, the scammers will say they’re from a federal law enforcement agency like the FBI, the DEA, US Marshals, or Border Patrol. Other than that, the scam usually follows the same script.

Scammers call their victims and tell them a car rented in their name was found near the Southern Border near Mexico. The car supposedly had drugs and/or guns in it, and now investigators are looking at the victim as a suspect. The victim is threatened with arrest, but the victim can avoid arrest if they just pay a fine then and there. This is when the scammers ask for payment in some kind of untraceable means like gift cards or cryptocurrency.

In the more current version of the scam, the scammers try to attract more victims with honey rather than vinegar. The scammers will tell the victim that their identity has been stolen, but the ‘agent’ can help the victim protect their money. Victims are instructed to send their remaining money to a ‘federal locker’ where the government will protect the victim’s money.

Except, federal lockers used to protect a citizen’s money isn’t a real thing. The only federal lockers that exist are the one’s government employees use to store their coats. What the scammers claim is a federal locker is just the scammers’ bank accounts.

If there were as many abandoned rental cars filled with drugs on the Southern Border as scammers claim, they would probably be stacked ten-high from California to Texas.

That’s not even mentioning that if law enforcement thought someone was involved in drug trafficking, they wouldn’t be calling the person to warn them. In these matters, law enforcement would be coming to your door.

If you get one of these calls, hang up. There’s no law that says you can’t hang up on law enforcement. Then call your local police department and tell them what the caller told you. They’ll be able to advise you on it being a scam. However, please keep in mind that no legitimate law enforcement agency will call you and threaten you with arrest or demand money.