Robocallers posing as employees of the Federal Communications Commission targeted over a dozen FCC staff members and their families back in early February 2024. Between February 6 and 7, the robocallers claimed to be from a “Fraud Prevention Team.”
The voice demanded that the call recipients pay $1,000 in Google gift cards to avoid jail time for a made-up crime they didn’t commit. A quick rule of thumb is that no one in any official capacity will ever ask for payment in gift cards. Gift cards are strictly the currency of scammers, desperate low-level drug dealers, and aunts who have no idea what to get you for your birthday.
The FCC has since confirmed that there is no such “Fraud Prevention Team,” since the entirety of the FCC can kinda be defined as a Fraud Prevention Team. And the entire regulatory system of the federal government can be defined that way as well, especially the Consumer Protection Bureau. But, again, there is no literal “Fraud Prevention team” within the FCC.
Robocallers Tried to Spam the FCC—And Failed Miserably
The scammers made around 1,800 call attempts before their calling accounts were terminated. This is the essence of scamming. Hit on a hot scam, quickly drop it, and move on to the next one before the feds catch on.
The calls were traced back to two fake people, the first named Christian Mitchell and the second named Henry Walker—the most generic white guy names a generic white guy name generator website likely spit out.
When a person answered their phone, they were greeted with this automated voice message: “Hello [first name of recipient] you are receiving an automated call from the Federal Communications Commission notifying you the Fraud Prevention Team would like to speak with you. If you are available to speak now please press one. If you prefer to schedule a call back please press two.”
The calls were placed using a VoIP provider called Telnyx, a company that has since been issued a fine of $4.49 million for failing to adequately verify the identities of its customers, a failing that is in direct violation of the US government’s “Know Your Customer” rules, a series of federal regulations that require companies to verify the identities of its users.
The post FCC Robocall Scammers Tried to Scam the Real FCC—and Failed appeared first on VICE.
