FBI Honolulu issues warning about law enforcement impersonation scam targeting Hawaiʻi residents

FBI Honolulu is alerting the community to a concerning new variation of a long-running fraud scheme in which criminals pose as federal law enforcement, such as FBI, DEA, and Secret Service agents, to steal money from victims.

While impersonation scams have existed for decades, recent reports in Hawaiʻi indicate that scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods that make it difficult for individuals to determine whether a call or message is legitimate.

In these cases, fraudsters are spoofing the official phone numbers of federal law enforcement field offices–including FBI Honolulu’s Field Office–and introducing themselves using the names of actual and fictitious agents.

When potential victims attempt to verify the caller’s identity by contacting an office directly, the spoofed number may mislead them into believing they are speaking with a real representative. In some instances, callers are unable to reach anyone and assume the communication must be authentic because the number appears to come from a government line.

One recent report described a scammer who went as far as appearing on a virtual meeting platform with a background staged to look like a federal office, complete with official-looking décor and a person dressed in business attire.

FBI Honolulu urges the public to take the following steps to protect themselves:

• Never send money, agree to transfer funds, or give personal information to anyone claiming to be a federal law enforcement officer. Law enforcement and government authorities will never contact members of the public by telephone or text message to demand any form of payment or to request personal information, nor will they request payment via prepaid cards, cryptocurrency, or courier.
• If you receive a call from someone claiming to be law enforcement, verify their identity before providing any information. You can do this by looking up the agency’s publicly listed phone number and calling it back to confirm whether an agent is actually trying to reach you. Inform the person who answers that you may be the target of a scam and want to verify the contact.
• Never give your personal information to anyone without verifying that the person is who they say they are. Ask for credentials and use official, publicly available information to contact the government or law enforcement agency to verify the caller and their credentials; do not use contact information provided by the person contacting you.
• If you are sent any webpage URLs, do not click without reviewing them to ensure they match the official domain of the law enforcement or government agency. Remember, scammers may use URLs closely mirroring official ones, but with slight variations or incorrect domain extensions (.com instead of .gov).
• If a scammer uses a virtual meeting platform, capture screenshots or video when possible and submit them through tips.fbi.gov. You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI to speak with a verified FBI representative.
• Report it! If you or someone you know has fallen victim to these impersonation scams, immediately cease all contact with the scammer(s) and notify your financial institutions to safeguard your financial accounts. Contact your local law enforcement agency to file a report and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov. Remember to provide screenshots and any other details of your interactions.

For more information about these scams, please see past Public Service Announcements from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3):

• I-091726-PSA (9/17/26): Scammers Impersonating Law Enforcement and Government
  Officials in Fraud Schemes: https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2026/PSA260917
• I-082423-PSA (8/24/23): FBI Guidance for Cryptocurrency Scam Victims:
  https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2023/PSA230824