Someone I love is being scammed right now

Stop the next payment and get their bank on the phone. You can do both before they believe you.

If it’s happening now

They’re on the phone with the scammer. Ask them to hang up so you can call back together on the number on their card or statement. Don’t debate who’s on the line.

They’re at the bank. Text them the “show the teller” message below, then call that branch. Use the number in the branch locator on the bank’s own website, not a search result. Ask for the manager and say a customer at the counter is being coached by a phone scammer.

They’re buying gift cards or standing at a Bitcoin ATM. Call and ask them to stop before they read out another card number or put in more cash. Both are hard to get back. If it already went: gift cards, Bitcoin ATM.

They mailed cash or gold. Get the tracking number. For a fee, USPS can try to stop a package that hasn’t been delivered: request a Package Intercept at usps.com, then call the Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455. For FedEx or UPS, call the shipper. Cash and gold steps.

They’re sending money through Western Union or MoneyGram. Call the company now: Western Union 720-945-9351, MoneyGram 1-800-926-9400. A transfer nobody has picked up can sometimes be stopped. Money transfer steps.

A courier is coming for cash, gold, or a card. No real bank, agency, or company sends one. Tell them not to open the door or hand anything over, and to call 911. If you can’t reach them, call the police where they live. Your 911 call usually can’t be transferred to another town.

Someone is on their computer. Have them hold the power button until it shuts off, then call the bank from a phone. Steps for that.

They won’t stop. Call their bank yourself. It won’t discuss the account with you, but it can listen, and some states let banks hold a transaction they think is elder financial exploitation.

What to say

• I'm not saying you did anything wrong. Before any money moves, let's call your bank together on the number on your card.

• You don't have to tell me what it's about. Just don't send anything until we've called the bank.

• We think she's being scammed. Someone's been telling her to move money. Can you stop anything that's pending, try to recall anything that's already gone, and flag the account for suspected elder financial exploitation? We need a case number.

• Please show this to the teller. I'm a family member. Someone on the phone is telling this customer to take out money. Please call me before anything is paid out.

• My mother is at the counter in your branch right now, and someone on the phone is coaching her to take out cash. Can you get a manager to her before anything's paid out?

Make the bank call together

On speaker or a three-way call, dial the number on their card or a statement together. They start the call: “I’ve got a family member on the line. You can talk to them about this.” Then you talk. Ask for:

• anything pending stopped, and anything already sent (a wire, a Zelle payment, a transfer) recalled
• the account flagged for suspected elder financial exploitation
• if they read out a code or someone was on their computer: online banking locked, unknown devices removed, phone number and email checked, and anyone newly added to send money to removed
• a case number

Money leaving an investment or retirement account? Call that firm too. If it’s a brokerage and they’re 65 or older, or the firm believes an impairment keeps them from protecting their own interests, FINRA rules let it temporarily hold a withdrawal it suspects is exploitation. It doesn’t have to, so ask.

If something already left your hands

In this order:

1. Stop contact. No more calls, chats, or payments to the scammer, including “fees” to release money. Keep the messages.
2. Call the bank, and the company they paid through if it wasn’t the bank: the gift card company, payment app, crypto exchange or Bitcoin ATM operator, or Western Union. Numbers and scripts: I paid or sent money.
3. Change passwords from a device you trust, email and bank first, if the scammer got a code, a password, or their computer. I gave out a code, password, or card number.
4. Save the evidence. Save evidence without spiraling.
5. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov. For a wire or crypto, file with IC3 at the same time as you call the bank.
6. Get support. If they’re 60 or older, the National Elder Fraud Hotline assigns a case manager to help with the reports. Family can call. Scammers have posed as hotline staff, so dial it yourself.

If the bank says they authorized it. Money they sent themselves (a wire, Zelle, a payment app, gift cards, crypto, cash) can count as authorized even though they were tricked, and often isn’t paid back. Ask for a recall anyway, and for the decision in writing. If it’s no, file a complaint with the CFPB.

Expect a second call. Anyone offering to get the money back for a fee is running a second scam, even if they say they’re the FBI, IC3, the FTC, or a lawyer. Someone offers to get my money back.

If it’s been going on for weeks

• Ask what they’ve been told to do next, and by when. That’s the payment to stop.
• Ask for one thing: no money moves until you’ve called the bank together.
• Look up whoever is selling the investment on Investor.gov. No match is a reason to stop. A match proves nothing, since scammers use real advisers’ names. Contact the firm on a number you find yourself.
• Ask them to name a trusted contact at their bank and brokerage, someone the firm can call if it’s worried. That person usually gets no access to the account. Pick someone who doesn’t already handle their money.
• Report it to Adult Protective Services in the state where they live if they’re older or disabled and can’t follow what’s happening, or the scam is taking money they need to live on. APS may send someone to talk with them. They can turn the help down.

If the FBI calls to say they’re being scammed, it can be real: the FBI contacts people it finds in crypto investment scams. A real agent won’t ask for money, personal details, or for money to be moved to a new account. To check, find the local office on the FBI field offices page and call it yourself.

What it looks like

What you might find:

• AnyDesk, TeamViewer, or another remote-access app they don’t remember installing, or a story about “the bank” fixing their computer
• Bitcoin ATM receipts, or a QR code they were told to scan at one
• gift cards from several stores, or photos of them in sent messages
• large cash withdrawals, gold or silver bought, someone coming by for a package
• a ready answer for the teller: a roof repair, a car for a grandchild
• an app showing big gains that wants a fee or tax before a withdrawal

Any one is reason enough for the bank call.

11:40 a.m. Your mother texts you.

Mom

Text Message
Today 11:40 AM

At the bank. Can't talk. A man from the FTC says my Social Security number was used to open accounts and mine are being frozen tonight. He set up a protected account so I don't lose my savings.

He's still on the phone in my purse. He says don't tell the teller, bank staff might be part of it. Please don't call, it could flag the case.

She's at the counter now. What do you do?

• Call that branch, using the locator on the bank's website, and ask for the manager. Say a customer at the counter is being coached by a phone scammer
• Keep calling her until she picks up
• Call the FTC to ask whether there's really a case
• Call 911 and ask them to send an officer to the branch

Show the answers

• Best move Call that branch, using the locator on the bank's website, and ask for the manager. Say a customer at the counter is being coached by a phone scammer Staff at the counter can slow this down and talk to her away from the phone. That's why he told her not to tell them. Some states let banks hold a withdrawal they think is exploitation.
• Okay Keep calling her until she picks up Worth trying, but she's been told not to answer, and if she does, he's listening from her purse. Get the bank involved first.
• Wrong move Call the FTC to ask whether there's really a case The FTC says its staff won't tell anyone to move money to protect it, so you already have the answer. Checking costs time she's spending at the counter.
• Okay Call 911 and ask them to send an officer to the branch Police may come, but the staff are already standing next to her. If you're in another town, your 911 usually can't transfer the call there. Call the branch first.

If they won't hang up, call the bank they're standing in. Staff at the counter can delay a withdrawal and talk to her without him listening. You can't, from where you are.

3:05 p.m. Last year your mother named you as the trusted contact on her bank account.

(312) 555-0117

Incoming call · 3:05 PM

1. Caller Hi, this is Renee in fraud prevention at Fernmont Bank. Your mother listed you as her trusted contact with us.
2. Caller She's at our Fairview branch asking for a large cash withdrawal. She seems upset and says it's for a family emergency.
3. Caller I can't go into her account with you. We've asked her to wait. Are you able to reach her, or come to the branch?

What do you do?

• Hang up. Banks don't call family about someone's account
• Call your mother on the number you have saved and ask her to wait for you before she takes out any cash
• Ask the caller to read you her balance so you know it's really the bank
• Call the bank back on the number on its website before you do anything else

Show the answers

• Wrong move Hang up. Banks don't call family about someone's account Some do, when the account holder named a trusted contact. The CFPB describes calls like this one. Hanging up leaves her alone at the counter.
• Best move Call your mother on the number you have saved and ask her to wait for you before she takes out any cash The call asks you for nothing: no code, no account details, no money. Acting on it costs you nothing, and reaching her is the point. If you want to confirm the call afterwards, use the number on the bank's website.
• Wrong move Ask the caller to read you her balance so you know it's really the bank A trusted contact usually can't see the account. A real caller won't read it out, and a fake one will make up a number.
• Okay Call the bank back on the number on its website before you do anything else Safe, and the right move if a call ever asks you for something. This one didn't, so checking first only delays reaching her.

A real trusted-contact call may ask you to reach them, whether they're OK, or who holds their power of attorney. It won't ask for a code, money, or their account details. If one does, hang up and call the bank yourself.

Your dad shows you his investment app. He's put in $61,000 since March. In May he took out $3,000, and it reached his bank.

app.vexorentrade.com/assets/withdraw

Vexoren Trade

Withdrawal request #W-882104
Amount: 212,480.17 USDT
Status: Pending tax clearance

Under international capital gains rules, a 12% tax (25,497.62 USDT) must be settled before funds are released. Tax cannot be deducted from the account balance.

Complete payment within 72 hours to avoid an account freeze and penalty fees. Contact your account manager for deposit instructions.

He asks you to help cover the tax so he can take the rest out. What do you do?

• Help him cover it. He already got $3,000 out, so it pays
• Ask him to pay nothing more, then call his bank together about what he's already sent
• Message the account manager and ask them to take the tax out of the balance
• Delete the app so he can't send any more

Show the answers

• Wrong move Help him cover it. He already got $3,000 out, so it pays A small early withdrawal can be bait: it makes the rest look real. Then come the taxes and penalties. Pay this one and the next fee follows.
• Best move Ask him to pay nothing more, then call his bank together about what he's already sent If the $212,000 were real, the tax could come out of it. A platform that won't take it from the balance is asking for new money. The $3,000 doesn't change that. Stopping new payments is something he can agree to today, even before he believes it's fake.
• Wrong move Message the account manager and ask them to take the tax out of the balance You'd be asking the scammers. They'll have a reason it can't come out, and now they know he has help.
• Wrong move Delete the app so he can't send any more He can reinstall it in a minute, and it holds the records he'll need when he reports it to IC3.

If an app says the money is there but must be paid for before it comes out, stop paying and report it, even if some came out earlier.

A longer rehearsal in real time: Practice helping someone. A grandfather wiring money after a call in his grandson’s voice.

What they’ll say to you

Don’t argue with these. Ask for the bank call.

“I can’t tell you. It’s a confidential investigation.” Say: “You don’t have to. Just call the bank with me before anything moves.” Keeping it secret is part of the scam.

“The bank might be in on it.” Say: “Then let’s call the number on your card together, so we both hear it.” The caller wants the teller out of it because a teller can slow a withdrawal down.

“The caller ID said it was them. They knew my Social Security number.” Say: “Anyone can fake caller ID, and Social Security numbers get stolen. Let’s call back on a number we already have.”

“I just have to pay the tax, then I can take it all out.” Say: “If the money’s there, they can take the tax out of it.” The pattern is fees to withdraw, then more fees.

“I already took money out. It’s real.” Say: “A small payout early on can be part of it. Let’s call the bank before anything else goes.”

“He’ll pay me back as soon as his account is unfrozen.” The FTC’s advice: don’t send money to someone you haven’t met in person. Someone I met online is asking for money.

“It’s my money.” It is. Say so. Then ask for the bank call anyway.

What not to waste time on

Winning the argument, messaging the scammer, or waiting for proof before calling the bank. A payment that’s still pending can sometimes be stopped. Once it’s picked up or spent, it usually can’t.