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Daily brief — August 13, 2026

Fake 'Recovery' Scammers Hit Prior Victims; Toll Texts, AI Romance Cons Persist

The FTC's newest alert warns that scam victims are being targeted a second time by fake recovery agents, while toll-text phishing and AI-driven romance-investment schemes remain in heavy circulation.

Published August 13, 2026

Key points

  • FTC (Aug. 3, 2026): scam victims are being re-targeted by fake 'refund/recovery' services posing as government agencies, advocacy groups, or law firms — never pay upfront to 'recover' lost money.
  • AVASC is independently tracking the same fake fund-recovery pattern, including impersonation of the FBI/IC3, which the FBI has publicly said it does not do.
  • Toll-agency smishing remains widespread and evolving, now including fake 'court notice' images and QR codes in some states.
  • AI is enabling scammers to run thousands of simultaneous romance-investment ('pig butchering') conversations, per multiple 2026 reports.
  • Federal recovery efforts (FBI–USSS Operation Level Up) have already reached thousands of crypto-fraud victims before full losses occurred — reporting early can help.

Watch out: 'we can get your money back' callers

The FTC issued a consumer alert on August 3 warning that people who've already lost money to a scam are being targeted again by so-called refund and recovery scammers. Refund and recovery scammers buy lists of people who've already been scammed, hoping they can be scammed again, then contact you saying they'll help get your money back or recover the prize or merchandise you never got, sometimes claiming to be with a government agency, a consumer advocacy group, or a law firm. The FTC says legitimate organizations will never charge you to recover a refund.

This lines up with what AVASC's own database has been seeing: prior victims contacted by fake recovery firms and people impersonating the FBI/IC3 promising to recover lost funds for an upfront fee, with the FBI explicitly warning it does not operate this way. If you've already been victimized and someone calls promising a refund for a fee, treat it as a second attempt at fraud, not a rescue.

Toll-text phishing wave is still going strong

The unpaid-toll smishing campaign AVASC first flagged in May remains one of the most persistent scams in the country. The FTC highlighted that consumers reported losses amounting to $470 million in 2024 due to scams initiated via text messages, marking a fivefold increase compared to 2020 figures, with SMiShing texts for unpaid tolls specifically identified as a top text scam category, and the FBI's IC3 received 59,271 complaints related to toll scams in 2024 alone.

Multiple state agencies continue re-issuing warnings as the scam mutates. One recent variant involves a fraudulent text with an image claiming to be a 'Notice of Civil Infraction Hearing' about a toll violation, falsely warning that the recipient must appear in person for a hearing or admit responsibility and pay a penalty. Common tells across versions: the text is unsolicited, sent from an unusually long phone number, includes a link that is likely shortened or scrambled, is written with a sense of urgency, contains grammatical and spelling errors, and requests personal or financial information.

AI is powering romance-investment ('pig butchering') scams at scale

AVASC's cluster on AI-driven romance-investment fraud matches a wider law-enforcement picture. In 2026, criminal syndicates now use agentic AI to automate the grooming process, with these AI agents able to maintain thousands of deep, personalized relationships simultaneously. The financial toll is severe: the FBI's IC3 reports cryptocurrency-related fraud caused over $11 billion in losses in 2025, with reported losses from AI-assisted scams accounting for almost $893 million.

There is some good news on the enforcement side. The FBI–USSS 'Operation Level Up' initiative had, as of March 2026, notified 8,935 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud, 77% of whom were unaware they were being scammed, saving an estimated $562 million. Early reporting matters: fast reporting improves the odds of freezing funds, and operations like Level Up have intervened before victims lost everything.

Protect yourself

  • If you've already been scammed and someone contacts you offering to recover your money for a fee, hang up — legitimate recovery never requires upfront payment.
  • Don't click links in unsolicited toll or 'court notice' texts; go directly to the toll agency's official site or app to check your account.
  • Treat any online relationship that pivots to a crypto or trading 'opportunity' as a red flag, especially if you're asked to move the chat to another app or pay a fee to 'unlock' withdrawals.
  • Verify investment platforms independently through official regulator sites — never through a link a new contact sends you.
  • Report suspicious texts by forwarding to 7726 (SPAM) and file a complaint at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or IC3.gov; quick reports can help freeze funds before you lose everything.

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.