Fake 'Recovery Agents' and AI-Boosted Romance Scams Surge

If you've already been scammed, watch for 'helpers' who aren't

The FTC issued a fresh consumer alert this week specifically about scammers who target people who've already lost money to a scam. These are the worst of the absolute worst: scams that target people who have already lost money to a scam, and the FTC wants you to know how to avoid scammers who pretend to be helpers. They'll tell you to pay a retainer, processing, or administrative fee — or share financial information so they can supposedly deposit a refund — but if you pay or share info, they steal from you again.

This tracks closely with an FBI/IC3 update circulating this month: scammers are impersonating FBI personnel who supposedly handle Internet Crime Complaint Center complaints, and the bureau says fraudsters have picked up new tricks including AI-generated video of FBI officials and spoofed versions of the IC3 website itself. Almost all complainants said the scammers claimed to have already recovered the victim's lost funds or offered to help recover them — but it's a ruse to revictimize people who've already lost money. This is exactly what AVASC's own database is picking up: reports of fake recovery firms and FBI/IC3 impersonators cold-contacting prior victims with recovery promises.

Older adults remain hit hardest: older adults continue to suffer the heaviest financial impact from internet crimes, with victims aged 60 and older reporting the highest losses nationally, exceeding $7.7 billion in 2025.

Toll-text smishing wave still running nationwide

State officials continue warning about fake unpaid-toll texts, which matches what AVASC has logged since late May. District residents, along with people throughout the US, are facing a surge of fraudulent text messages that claim to come from road tolling authorities across the country — and the texts are scams that aim to steal personal and financial information. Officials note the scale: the FBI's 2024 Internet Crime Report logged 59,271 complaints about the text toll scam, sent out millions of times to residents across the country.

Red flags authorities point to: an unusually long sending number (10+ digits), a shortened or scrambled link, urgent tone, spelling/grammar errors, and requests for personal or financial information. The FCC adds that the sender's number may be spoofed to look like it's from a toll company.

AI is supercharging romance-investment ('pig-butchering') cons

AVASC is seeing continued reports of AI-run romance-investment scams funneling victims into fake crypto platforms — and outside data backs this up. Chainalysis estimates crypto scams generated more than $17 billion in losses in 2025, with impersonation scams growing more than 1,400% year over year driven in part by AI tools, and AI-enabled scams generating 4.5 times more revenue per operation than traditional scams.

The playbook: scammers spend weeks or months building fake romantic trust before directing victims to fraudulent crypto trading platforms that display fabricated profits. A simple rule of thumb from fraud researchers: if your introduction to a crypto 'opportunity' came through a romance or friendship that started in your messages, treat it as a scam until proven otherwise.