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Daily brief — August 26, 2026

Fake 'FBI Recovery Agents' and Toll-Text Scams Are Active Right Now

The FBI just re-upped a warning that criminals are posing as its own IC3 cybercrime unit to re-scam prior victims, even as toll-text smishing keeps fueling record imposter-scam reports nationwide.

Published August 26, 2026

Key points

  • The FBI/IC3 issued an updated warning that scammers are impersonating IC3 staff — sometimes with AI deepfake video — to charge fake recovery fees to prior scam victims.
  • The real IC3 never charges a fee to recover funds and has no legitimate social media presence for that purpose.
  • Toll-text smishing remains a major driver behind a 40% rise in government-imposter reports; imposter scams are the FTC's #1 reported category for the ninth straight year.
  • AVASC's own incident data mirrors both trends: fake recovery firms retargeting past victims, and a nationwide wave of fake toll texts.
  • Other active patterns in our data: task-job scams, AI romance-investment cons, and spoofed ticket-resale sites.

Breaking: Fake 'FBI/IC3' agents are targeting people who already got scammed

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued an updated public warning that criminals are impersonating IC3 and FBI personnel to re-victimize people who have already reported a scam. The scheme combines several exploitation tactics, including targeting previous victims, AI-generated videos to create misleading promotional materials, and spoofed websites built to harvest personal information. Local TV outlets carried the warning again just last week, noting the FBI says scammers use phone calls, emails, social media outreach, fake IC3 websites and AI deepfake videos, with some impersonators claiming to have already recovered lost funds and offering further help — typically for payment.

The core message from the Bureau is blunt: "They request money in order to recover money... Just as a general rule, the federal government does not do that," and IC3 does not have a social media presence or investigate crimes through social media. If you're contacted, the FBI recommends typing www.ic3.gov directly into a browser rather than clicking a link or searching for the site.

This matches exactly what AVASC's own database has been logging: prior scam victims contacted by fake recovery firms and people posing as FBI/IC3 staff promising to recover lost funds for an upfront fee. If you've already reported a scam and someone reaches out claiming they can get your money back, treat it as a second scam attempt — not help.

Also active: toll-text scams are still driving record government-imposter reports

Government-impersonation scams — including bogus "unpaid toll" texts spoofing agencies like E-ZPass, SunPass, FasTrak and TxTag — are a big part of why imposter scams keep topping the charts. The FTC's own data shows more than 1 million imposter-scam reports in 2025 with losses up nearly 20% to $3.5 billion, and government-imposter reports up 40%, driven in part by messages about overdue tolls that spoof real toll programs. Imposter scams overall have now been the #1 reported scam category for the ninth year in a row.

State transportation departments continue issuing fresh alerts as the wave persists. Iowa DOT warned that fraudulent texts and calls falsely claim unpaid traffic violations or tolls and ask recipients to click a link to provide personal information as well as credit card numbers, and Illinois DOT similarly flagged a text message campaign telling recipients they have unpaid tickets, tolls or other fees and urging them to click a link or pay quickly to avoid penalties. This lines up directly with AVASC's tracked nationwide toll-smishing cluster.

What AVASC is seeing on our end

Beyond the two active waves above, our incident reports over the past several weeks continue to show three other patterns worth watching: task-based "job" scams that pay small amounts before demanding victims deposit their own money to unlock fake earnings; AI-driven romance-investment ("pig-butchering") cons funneling people into fake crypto platforms with five- and six-figure losses; and spoofed ticket-resale sites around high-demand events. None of these are new today, but they remain live and are compounding the same imposter- and investment-fraud trends federal regulators are tracking.

Protect yourself

  • If someone contacts you claiming they can recover money you already lost to a scam — especially for an upfront fee — treat it as a second scam. Legitimate agencies don't charge to recover funds.
  • Go directly to www.ic3.gov or ftc.gov by typing the address yourself; never click a link in an unsolicited message or social media post claiming to be from the FBI/IC3.
  • Ignore texts about "unpaid tolls" that demand payment via a link. Check your toll balance only by going directly to your toll agency's official app or website.
  • Be skeptical of unexpected urgency — threats of arrest, license suspension, or frozen accounts are pressure tactics, not standard government communication.
  • If you've already been scammed, report it once through the real FTC (ReportFraud.ftc.gov) or FBI IC3 (ic3.gov) channels, then be extra wary of anyone who contacts you afterward offering to "help."
  • Save evidence (screenshots, numbers, links) of any suspicious contact and share it with AVASC or your local consumer protection office — it helps track these rings without putting you at further risk.

Sources

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This briefing is public-safe intelligence: it surfaces only indicators and patterns that are already public, alongside protective guidance — never a playbook for scammers. AVASC is not a law firm, investigator, or government agency, and this is not legal or financial advice. If you've been targeted, you can report a scam or explore recovery resources.