FBI launches 'Take a Beat' campaign to increase awareness of frauds, scams

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The FBI is launching a new campaign called "Take a Beat" to make sure you know about some of the biggest frauds and scams happening right now.

The FBI wants all of us to take an extra moment to think about whether that message is "for real." It's because of scams that often prey upon our emotions.

Too often, many of us become victims after getting urgent sounding phone calls, text messages or emails asking us to send money or disclose our password because we or a loved one is in trouble.

The FBI says there are a lot of fraudsters and scammers out there trying to pull a fast one on you.

"He called me from a Citibank number," said Soudabeh Enayati. She lost $950 because of a person on the phone pretending to be from Citibank's fraud department.

The man said he was trying to help her and that Enayati needed to transfer money to a different account.

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"He had my name, my phone number, my user ID. He says we need to get your password for on online banking," said Enayati.

That happened in April and she's still trying to resolve the matter.

It's one of the scams the FBI is trying to educate the public about with their new campaign.

"They depend on getting people in a heightened emotional state and of creating a sense of danger," said Robert Tripp, special agent in charge, FBI San Francisco field office.

There are crypto currency scams:

"These are typically investment scams. They will contact the victim and come up with an opportunity for the victims to make huge sums of money," said Tripp. "At the end of the day, the victim will find out those profit was imaginary and they'll lose all their investments."

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There are impersonation or imposter scams.

"Sometimes people will pretend to be law enforcement. Sometimes they'll pretend to be grand jury officials. They'll pretend to be bank officials - they'll pretend to be someone they're not to get the victim to send money," said Tripp.

Seniors can be prime targets for the grandparent scam. The FBI says there's now a twist. Criminals are using AI to clone a person's voice.

"The scammer will call the grandparent, pretend to be the child and beg the victim to send money," said Tripp.

The FBI says to also watch out for "recovery scams" that target victims of fraud.

"This is where they get a follow-up call from somebody who claims to know they are a victim, offering to help them get their money back," said Tripp.

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The FBI says fraud can happen to anyone at any time and hopes educating the public will curb the crimes. Enayati says learned a valuable lesson.

"Don't trust anything, anybody, any link. Any number that you recognize," said Tripp.

If you get an unsolicited call from somebody with a sense of urgency, be very cautious.

If you are a victim of fraud or a scam, report it to the FBI online or call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

In the first six months of this year, the FBI saw $1.6 billion in fraud reported to the Internet Complaint Center. That is an increase of about $300 million over the same time last year.

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