And if someone does fall victim to a scam, to report it to the FBI and the FTC. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the FBI have also posted online warnings saying they'll never call and ask for money. 'I was like, 'this feels like from a movie,'' she said. 'In that package, they found narcotics, they found cash, driver's licenses, and fake Social Security numbers,' Haedo said. He told her the arrest warrant was based on a package he'd intercepted from Mexico that was addressed to her.

When Haedo Googled Officer Daniels that day, she found his bio on Customs and Border Protection's website and his listed phone number matched the one on her caller ID. 'When people think the government is calling you, there's a very understandable reaction to be concerned.' 'What is particularly pernicious about the imposter scams is that there's unfortunately a relatively high rate of people who are duped by them,' said Lois Greisman, associate director for the FTC's division of marketing practices. And last year, people lost a total of $2.6 billion to imposter scams. The Federal Trade Commission says nearly 200,000 people have been targeted this year alone. While these scams have been around forever, they've become more believable because con artists use real names of law enforcement officers that show up with caller ID from an actual office and even local accents. It involves the perpetrator impersonating an authority figure and using scare tactics to reel in victims. The scam is known as an imposter scam and is the top fraud in the U.S. She was kept on the phone for more than three hours and eventually brought to tears. But what Haedo didn't realize in that moment is she'd just been targeted in an intricate scam.

He told Haedo she could verify him by Googling his name and department. Customs and Border Protection and he had a warrant for her arrest. The caller said his name was Officer Robert Daniels from U.S. She doesn't normally pick those up, but she did that day. It was a Monday in the middle of the day when Valeria Haedo got a phone call from a number she didn't recognize.

Valeria Haedo, a visual artist based in New York City, was caught off guard when she was targeted in a complex phone scam.

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