New Phone Scam Claims Caller Is Federal Drug Agent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new phone scam is making the rounds and, in this one, the caller pretends to be an agent of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

The DEA has issued a warning about the fraud scheme. This week, the agency released a video, reminding the public that it will never phone people asking them for money or personal information.

According to the DEA, the fraud scheme takes several different forms.

In one version, a caller says that the victim's name was used to rent a vehicle in which drugs were found at the U.S. border. The caller asks the victim to verify their social security number or tells them their bank account has been compromised.

Sometimes, the caller threatens the target with arrest for the fake drug seizure and tells them to send money by gift card or a wire transfer to pay a fine. Other times, the victims are asked to help the investigation or told they need to share information to reset their bank account.

Listen to a DEA agent interrupt the scammer during a phone scam attempt.

Sometimes, the scammers use sophisticated tactics. Some have spoofed legitimate DEA phone numbers to fool their victims or texted photos of what appear to be legitimate credentials, like badges.

While the details change, here are some common aspects of the scam, according to the DEA:

• Callers use fake names and badge numbers. Sometimes they are names of publicly known DEA officials or local police officers
• They often use an urgent and aggressive tone, refusing to speak to anyone other than the target
• They will threaten arrest, prosecution and imprisonment
• In the cases of doctors and pharmacists, they threaten to revoke their DEA certification
• They demand thousands of dollars on gift cards or personal information such as social security number and date of birth
• With doctors and pharmacists, they will claim patients have made accusations against them

The DEA says its agents will never contact members of the public or medical professionals by phone to demand money and will never request personal information over the phone. It notifies people of legitimate investigations in person or by official letter, the agency said.

"You should only give money, gift cards, personally identifiable information, including bank account information, to someone you know," the DEA said in a news release. "The best deterrence against these bad actors is awareness and caution."

Anyone who gets a scam call from someone claiming to be with the DEA is asked to report it to the FBI. The Federal Trade Commission also provides steps to recover money from scams, takes reports and shares information with more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies.

The agency says that reporting these scam calls will help federal authorities find, arrest and stop the scammers making them. Impersonating a federal agent is a federal crime, punishable by up to three years in prison, while aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, plus fines and restitution.

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