Greg's Corner

Why do scammers pose as the CISA, and what is it?

By Greg Collier

Scammers are never above impersonating any branch of the government. Most commonly, they pose as the IRS, the Social Security Administration, or the FBI. Now, it appears scammers are posing as an obscure office of the government to further their fraudulent schemes.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for enhancing the security, resilience, and reliability of the nation’s cybersecurity and critical infrastructure. Overall, the CISA plays a crucial role in safeguarding the nation’s critical infrastructure and ensuring that the United States can effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from diverse threats and hazards.

In a recent notice on its site, the CISA is warning Americans that phone scammers have begun impersonating the agency. Just like with other similar scams, this one involves the person pretending to be from CISA asking the caller to send cash, cryptocurrency, or gift cards to them.

The CISA’s warning does not go into detail how exactly their agency is being used in scams, but it’s not difficult to imagine what scammers might try. For example, the scammers may claim that the victim has a warrant out for their arrest for supposedly accessing illicit content on the internet. Then the scammers could tell the victim the warrant could be resolved if the victim makes a payment. As mentioned above, this is usually requested through non-traditional means like gift cards or cryptocurrency.

Like all law enforcement impersonation scams, the CISA wants to remind everyone that no legitimate government agency will ever ask for payment in cash, cryptocurrency, or gift cards over the phone. If you receive such a request, it’s a scam.

For more information on how to stay safe from scams and to report suspicious activity, visit the official CISA website.