U.S. Attorney warns of government imposter scams

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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana is warning the public about government and business imposter scams.

Kurt Wall’s office said the FTC received more than 375,000 reports of government imposter scams in 2025, causing people to lose a total of $917 million. Officials said the scams are a huge problem.

In one scam, potential victims receive a call from someone claiming to work for a recognizable business. The caller claims a person has suspicious activity on an account and then transfers the person to someone pretending to work for the FBI, FTC, or another law enforcement agency.

Scammers urge potential victims to “protect” their money by transferring it to another account or by depositing the money into a “government account” or crypto ATM. Victims may also be urged to get cash or gold and give it to a courier.

Officials said the scammers often try to convince victims by using complicated stories that make a situation sound urgent.

Other potential scams involve someone claiming a potential victim is eligible for government benefits or has a suspended Social Security number.

According to Wall’s office, the government will never ask someone to move money to protect it. In addition, people will never be told by the government that they should pay immediately or have their government benefits suspended. Officials said you should also never expect demands that you pay with a gift card, cryptocurrency, a payment app, or through a wire transfer.

Scams can be reported by going to the website reportfraud.ftc.gov. More information can be found at ejcc.acl.gov/imposters.