FTC: callers posing as the FTC threaten to "deactivate" your phone number, then ask for a "security deposit"
Checked
The FTC says its staff will never ask you to send money, threaten to disconnect your phone or tell you to keep calls secret. Our advice: hang up and report it.
Who is affected
Anyone who gets this kind of call. The FTC does not publish a count of reports for this scheme.
What happened
The FTC says a caller who claims to be an FTC official says a phone registered under your name and number is being used to commit scams in another country, reads off a fake badge ID, and threatens to deactivate your phone number if you don't cooperate. The caller then transfers you to a fake police officer. If you hesitate, they tell you what to search online to find the police department's number, and people involved in the scam answer when you call. They ask for your ID and personal information, tell you to keep it secret, and later claim you are under arrest unless you send money for a "security deposit." The FTC says none of it is true.
What to do now
- Know the FTC's rules. The FTC says a real FTC employee will never ask you to send money, never connect you to someone who says to send money, never threaten to disconnect your phone, never tell you to keep your conversations secret, and never text you a photo of an employee ID to "verify" who they are.
- Our advice: hang up, and don't call a number the caller gives you or tells you to search for. The FBI says to use official, publicly available information to contact an agency, and not contact information provided by the person who contacted you.
- Our advice: don't send money or your ID because a caller says so.
- Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Dates
- Event date: the FTC alert gives no start date for the scheme.
- Published: Oct 22, 2026 (FTC consumer alert).
- Date checked: Oct 22, 2026.