Family emergency scams are a form of imposter scam that usually start when you get a communication from someone claiming to be a relative or someone else who claims your relative is in some kind of legal trouble or physical danger.
This scam preys on your fears to make you act quickly, saying you have a limited amount of time to send them money to help your family member. The danger or risk is completely phony, but by the time the scam victim realizes it, they may have already sent significant sums of money to a scammer who may be thousands of miles away.
How do I spot a family emergency scam?
In a common version of this ploy, the scammer will call pretending to be an authority figure (like a doctor or law enforcement). In this case, do what you can to immediately reach your loved one to confirm if the emergency is real or not.
Unfortunately, with the rise of Artificial Intelligence technology, these scams are even more difficult to spot. Now, some scammers can use online services to mimic a loved one’s voice with eerie accuracy. Scammers know the more realistic they can make their initial pitch, the more likely a victim will think without acting to protect their relative.
Technology also makes it easy for the call to seem like it’s coming from a family member’s phone number, and the scammer may use publicly available information to make it feel even more real. It sounds strange, but if any loved one calls asking you for money, especially if it’s with a story of some kind of emergency or danger, don’t assume it’s really them.
How can I avoid getting scammed?
One of the easiest ways to avoid this type of scam is to establish a family code word, phrase, password anyone in the family can use to authenticate their identity. Avoid sharing this password with anyone outside your family.
Always stop and think before acting.
How do I get my money back and protect my information?
If you’ve sent money to a scammer, contact the company you used to process that payment immediately. Reporting fraud to your bank, credit card company, the company you bought a gift card from, a cryptocurrency exchange, or any other payment processing company can help reverse it.
Report any scams, fraud, or suspicious business activity to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
