FBI Boston says scammers are now calling victims from what appears to be the bureau’s own main number, 857-386-2000, and steering them onto an encrypted messaging app. Across the Boston Division, which covers Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, 1,092 government-impersonation complaints carried $28,895,404 in losses. The office issued the warning on Aug. 19, 2026.
How the fake FBI call unfolds
FBI Boston describes a two-step script. First, a caller posing as a representative of a financial institution tells the victim that the victim’s information was used to open an account tied to illegal gun purchases.
That caller then transfers the victim to someone claiming to be an FBI special agent investigating the fraud. The supposed agent urges the victim to verify the call, and then the line drops.
Soon afterward the victim gets a return call that shows FBI Boston’s main number on caller ID. The caller gives a fake name and a badge number, the office says, and pushes the victim to download an encrypted app and keep the matter confidential.
The release does not name the app. The FBI’s own list of red flags is clear on the method: the bureau will never ask anyone to communicate through an encrypted app, never request payment by prepaid card, wire transfer or crypto ATM, and never ask a person to liquidate assets or buy precious metals.
That makes the display on the phone the least trustworthy part of the call. Anyone in the four states who gets an unexpected call from an agent, even one showing the bureau’s real number, has to decide whether to stay on the line, and the FBI’s answer is to hang up.
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The dollars behind the warning: $28,895,404 in four states
The division’s complaint count breaks down by state. Massachusetts had 706 victims and $24,508,041 in losses, New Hampshire 148 victims and $1,678,840, Maine 125 victims and $684,587, and Rhode Island 113 victims and $2,023,936. Together that is the 1,092 complaints and $28,895,404 the office reports.
By simple division, the average loss is about $26,500 per complaint across the division. Massachusetts runs higher, near $34,700 per victim, while Maine’s average is about $5,500. Massachusetts alone accounts for roughly 85 percent of the dollars.
The smaller states show the same pattern at a lower scale. New Hampshire’s average works out to about $11,300 per victim and Rhode Island’s to about $17,900. Massachusetts accounts for 706 of the 1,092 complaints, nearly two-thirds of the division’s total.
The national picture is larger. FBI Boston cites the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3, which counted 32,424 people reporting government-impersonation scams in 2025, with losses of more than $797 million. That works out to roughly $24,600 per victim.
What FBI Boston says to do when the call comes
Special Agent in Charge Ted E. Docks said that scammers are using “fear, urgency, and increasingly sophisticated tactics,” including spoofing trusted phone numbers, to push people into acting before they can think it through. His advice is to stop, hang up and contact the organization directly using a number found independently.
To confirm a contact from the Boston office, call 857-386-2000 and ask to be connected. Dialing out reaches the real office, because spoofing only changes what appears on an incoming call.
The FBI says it will never call or email private citizens to demand payment. The office also says not to send money or gift cards to anyone not personally known and trusted, and not to share banking details or Social Security numbers with unknown callers.
The Federal Trade Commission gives the same warning for every agency. It says government agencies never call, email or text to ask for money or personal information, and that scammers insist on payment by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency or payment app because the money is hard to trace and recover.
If money already left an account
FBI Boston says a person who has been targeted should stop all contact, notify financial institutions and secure accounts. The office also says to keep records of every transaction and every call, text and email, and to report to local law enforcement and file a police report.
Complaints go to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. The center says people should file even when unsure whether their situation qualifies, and that it does not work with law firms or crypto services to recover lost funds.
The Federal Trade Commission’s page adds two more places to report: ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the state attorney general. For anyone who shared personal information, it points to IdentityTheft.gov for the steps that protect an identity.
The center also says it will never directly contact a person for information or money. Anyone who later gets a call or message claiming to recover the lost money through IC3 is dealing with a second scammer.
With caller ID no longer proof of anything, the question for each household is what happens on the next call from an “agent,” and whether banking details or a Social Security number have already been given to someone who should not have them.
What if the FBI’s own number calls back?
The stake is the hour after bank details or a Social Security number leave the household. Spoofed caller ID defeats the one check most people rely on, and a script that begins with a bank call can reach someone who has already been warned about the FBI.
The warning explains how the call works. The related job is what comes next, and The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit is built for it with the free credit-freeze steps, a first-hour recovery plan and a fraud evidence and report log. Part 5, The Current Playbooks, covers the scams running now.
Get the first-hour recovery plan and credit-freeze checklist →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
