The Federal Trade Commission launched a rulemaking today aimed at
combatting government and business impersonation fraud, a pernicious
and prevalent problem that has grown worse during the pandemic.
Impersonators use all methods of communication to trick their targets
into trusting that they are the government or an established business
and then trade on this trust to steal their identity or money.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a sharp spike in impersonation
fraud, as scammers capitalize on confusion and concerns around shifts
in the economy stemming from the pandemic. Incorporating new data from
the Social Security Administration, reported costs have increased an
alarming 85 percent year-over year, with $2 billion in total losses
between October 2020 and September 2021. Notably, since the pandemic
began, COVID-specific scam reports have included 12,491 complaints of
government impersonation and 8,794 complaints of business
impersonation.

"It is reprehensible that scammers are preying on people during this
pandemic by pretending to be someone they can trust," said Samuel
Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "The
sharp spike in impersonation scams has cost our country billions and
undermined response and relief efforts. The FTC is prepared to use
every tool in our toolbox to deter government and business
impersonation fraud, penalize wrongdoers, and return money to those
harmed.

Government and business impersonators can take many forms, posing as,
for example, a lottery official, a government official or employee, or
a representative from a well-known business or charity. Impersonators
may also use implicit representations, such as misleading domain names
and URLs and "spoofed" contact information, to create an overall net
impression of legitimacy. These scammers are fishing for information
they can use to commit identity theft or seek monetary payment, often
requesting funds via wire transfer, gift cards, or increasingly
cryptocurrency because government officials also use such payment
method when necessary .

Government impersonators typically assert an air of authority to stage
their scam. These impersonators sometimes threaten their target with
severe consequences such as a discontinuation of benefits, enforcement
of tax liability, and even arrest or prosecution. Government
impersonators have also been known to deceive consumers into paying
for services that would otherwise be free, or to lure them with
promises of government grants, prizes, or loan forgiveness.

Business impersonators typically get consumers' attention with emails,
telephone calls or text messages about suspicious activity on
consumers' accounts or computers or supposed good news about a refund
or prize in hopes of gaining trust and receiving personal information.
The harm is substantial, as people who lose money on the leading
business impersonator scams report of their thousands of dollars lost
to scams.

The FTC has brought numerous cases against government and business
impersonation schemes through the years under its existing
authorities, but the ANPR notes that the Commission's authority to
seek consumer redress or civil penalties in these cases is currently
very limited. The provisions related to impersonation under the
Telemarketing Sales Rule and Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule
cover only specific sectors or methods of scams.

In our records your name showed that you are being scammed by many
impersonators who pretend to be from FBI CIA IMF DHL FEDEX USPS UPS UN
WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL BENIN REPUBLIC officials and other offices and
countries however i wish to inform you that all the people you are
dealing with are all scams they never exist i'm sorry if i sound harsh
but you have been wasting your money on scams and that's the reason am
contacting you to given you full details where to claim your
legitimate funds. i understand you have spent thousand of dollars to
those professional impersonators but the truth remains they are
professional impersonators who can do anything to cover their scams
with fake proofs. you have lost a lot to those scams and it's time to
stop wasting your hard earn money on something that never exist
because you have been chasing your shadow all this while. this report
is to prevent you from being scammed again and to direct you to the
rightful office where to claim your real payment with compensation
payment from the government.

Contact details of where to claim your real payment is below
Department of the Treasury washington DC
Staff name Jerry H. woods
Email- Department.of.the.Treasury@representative.com
Contact phone number 202 793 4282

Office of Public Affairs
Mr Williams Harris
202-650 0666
E-mail officeofpublicaffairs@collaborative.li