Scammers posing as FBI agents have spoofed the Boston Division's own main phone line to convince New Englanders they were talking to real federal investigators, part of a scheme that has drained nearly $28.9 million from victims across Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The FBI's Boston field office, which covers all four states, issued a formal advisory on Wednesday warning that the fraud has grown sophisticated enough to fool people who think they know better.
According to Boston 25 News, the scam typically starts with a call from someone claiming to represent a financial institution, who then transfers the victim to a person posing as an FBI special agent. That fake agent provides a name and badge number, then claims the victim's identity was used to open an account and purchase illegal firearms, or tells the target that the matter is under investigation and confidential, instructing them not to discuss it with anyone. In some cases, the criminals spoof the FBI Boston Division's real main phone number, 857-386-2000, so caller ID shows a legitimate federal line even though it is not.
The FBI classifies these crimes as government impersonation scams, and the bureau says agents will never call or email private citizens to demand money, threaten arrest by phone, or ask people to liquidate assets or buy precious metals. Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Boston Division, said scammers rely on fear, urgency, and tactics like spoofing trusted numbers to make people act before they have time to think, as reported by Boston 25 News.
How the Con Escalates Once Trust Is Established
Once a victim is on the phone with the fake agent, scammers may direct them to switch to an encrypted messaging application, something the real FBI says it will never do. The bureau also emphasizes it will never request sensitive personal information, ask victims to use their own money to help catch a criminal, or request payment through gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or prepaid cards. The scam ultimately targets victims' personal information and financial accounts, with callers sometimes even encouraging targets to verify the phone number themselves, a false reassurance since the number displayed has already been spoofed.
Docks said anyone who receives an unexpected call from someone claiming to be with the FBI or another law enforcement agency should hang up and verify the caller independently, per Boston 25 News. The Boston Division can connect callers directly to the FBI employee in question, and an actual employee's identity can be verified by calling the division at 857-386-2000 — the same number scammers have been spoofing to deceive victims.
The Toll Across New England
The FBI Boston Division received 1,092 complaints tied to this scheme, resulting in nearly $28.9 million in losses across its four-state territory. Massachusetts bore the brunt with 706 victims and $24.5 million lost, while New Hampshire recorded 148 victims and $1.68 million in losses. Rhode Island counted 113 victims and $2.02 million lost, and Maine reported 125 victims with $684,587 in losses, according to Boston 25 News.
Those regional numbers reflect a much larger national pattern. Nationwide, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 32,424 victims of government impersonation scams in 2025, with total losses exceeding $797 million, according to NPR's analysis of federal data. That marks a near doubling from 2024, when roughly 17,300 complaints produced about $405 million in losses, the outlet reported. NPR's review also found artificial intelligence explicitly cited in 260 of the 2025 complaints, tied to $7 million in losses, as criminal networks lean on voice-cloning and automated messaging tools to make their scripts sound convincing.
Why Older Adults Bear the Heaviest Losses
Older adults have absorbed the worst of it. Americans aged 60 and above suffered $413 million in reported losses from government impersonation scams across 8,628 complaints in 2025, more than half of the nationwide total for this crime type, Hoodline previously reported on a similar bogus FBI scheme targeting Florida bank customers. Fraud networks tend to target older demographics because they are seen as holding accessible retirement savings and as more likely to defer to claimed government authority.
Federal regulators have tools meant to fight back, though enforcement often lags the scale of the problem. Falsely pretending to be a federal officer, or demanding money under that pretense, is a felony under 18 U.S. Code § 912 punishable by up to three years in prison, according to LegalMatch. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission's Impersonation Rule, effective since April 2024, lets the agency sue imposters directly in federal court to recover victim funds and impose civil penalties, per the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC reported in June that total consumer losses from all imposter scams reached $3.5 billion nationwide in 2025.
The Federal Communications Commission requires phone carriers to deploy the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication system on IP networks to verify where calls actually originate, but scammers continue exploiting foreign or non-IP connections that fall outside that framework, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Spoofing caller ID with intent to defraud is separately illegal under the federal Truth in Caller ID Act, which allows civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.
What to Do If You Get One of These Calls
Officials recommend ignoring calls from unknown numbers when possible and hanging up immediately if a caller claiming to be from the FBI demands action. They also urge people to never send money or gift cards to strangers and to avoid sharing banking information, Social Security numbers, or other personal data with unsolicited callers. Anyone targeted should stop communicating with the caller, contact their financial institution, notify local police, and file a complaint with IC3.gov.
Victims who report significant wire fraud quickly may have another option: the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center Recovery Asset Team can launch a Financial Fraud Kill Chain, coordinating with banks in an attempt to freeze transferred funds before criminals can withdraw them, according to Federal Trade Commission testimony. That mechanism only works if victims move fast, underscoring why officials keep repeating the same basic advice: hang up, verify independently, and never wire money or hand over personal details to someone who called first.
