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Week of August 24, 2026

This Week in Scams: Toll Texts, AI Romance Cons & Fake 'Recovery' Calls

From billion-dollar toll smishing to AI-powered pig-butchering rings and scammers posing as the FBI to re-target past victims, this week's briefing rounds up what AVASC's data and top watchdogs are seeing — and what you can do about it.

Published August 24, 2026

Key points

  • Fake 'unpaid toll' texts are now the fastest-growing government-impersonation scam, with FTC-reported imposter losses hitting $3.5 billion in 2025.
  • AI is helping romance-investment ('pig butchering') scammers run more convincing, higher-volume cons; crypto-related fraud losses topped $11 billion in 2025.
  • Fake 'task' jobs continue to trap job-seekers with small early payouts before demanding crypto deposits to fix a manufactured 'negative balance.'
  • The FBI has issued a new alert about scammers impersonating FBI/IC3 staff — including AI deepfake videos and spoofed IC3 websites — to re-target people who already lost money.
  • World Cup ticket demand is fueling a wave of spoofed FIFA websites and fake resale listings; buy only through official channels.
  • None of these schemes reflect poor judgment on the victim's part — they are engineered by professional criminal operations using increasingly sophisticated tools.

Toll-text scams remain the biggest volume threat

AVASC's database has been tracking a nationwide wave of unpaid-toll text messages since late May, with look-alike payment pages designed to harvest card numbers and personal data. This matches what federal regulators are seeing at scale: the FTC confirmed that fake toll payment texts are now the fastest-growing form of government imposter fraud in the country, contributing to a 40% spike in reports and pushing total imposter scam losses to $3.5 billion in 2025.

The programs most often impersonated are the ones millions of drivers actually use. EZ-Pass, SunPass, FasTrak, and TxTag are among the programs most commonly impersonated, according to the FTC. If you didn't recently drive somewhere with tolls, an unexpected 'overdue toll' text is almost certainly fake — and even if you did, the safest move is to check your account directly through the agency's official app or website rather than tapping any link in the message.

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

AVASC has flagged a cluster of romance-investment cases in which scammers appear to use automated tools to run large numbers of simultaneous conversations, steering victims toward fake crypto trading platforms — losses in these cases often reach five and six figures. This tracks with broader FBI reporting: the bureau says criminals often create fake online identities to build trust and emotional connections, then exploit that relationship for financial gain, frequently moving money through foreign accounts, money mules, cryptocurrency, or gift cards.

The financial toll is severe and rising. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), cryptocurrency-related fraud caused over $11 billion in losses in 2025, and separate FBI data for Northern California alone showed romance-scam losses more than doubling year-over-year. A useful rule of thumb from fraud researchers: if a crypto 'opportunity' arrived through a relationship that began in your messages or on a dating app, treat it as a scam until proven otherwise — and never move money to a platform a new online contact recommends.

Fake 'task' jobs are draining people who most need income

AVASC's incident data shows a steady stream of task-based job scams — fake remote gigs like product rating or app reviews — that pay small amounts before engineering a 'negative balance' and demanding victims deposit their own money to unlock withdrawals that never come. This mirrors a pattern the FTC has documented in detail: task scams often start with a text or WhatsApp message about vague online work, and once consumers begin doing tasks, they may even receive small payouts from the supposed job, giving them confidence it's legitimate — before the scam pivots and asks them to put in their own money.

The financial damage is well documented. The FTC has reported that these scams helped drive job-scam losses past $220 million in just six months, with cryptocurrency losses tied to job scams doubling year over year. If a 'job' ever asks you to pay — in crypto or otherwise — to unlock earnings you already supposedly made, that is the clearest sign the platform is fraudulent, not a technical glitch to solve by depositing more.

New warning: scammers posing as the FBI to 're-target' scam victims

One of the most important updates this week is a fresh federal alert directly relevant to AVASC's community: the FBI issued a new Public Service Announcement warning that cybercriminals are increasingly using AI-generated deepfakes and spoofed Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) websites to target and re-victimize individuals who have already fallen prey to scams. Investigators say attackers impersonate FBI personnel or affiliates and claim they can help recover stolen assets, but their actual goal is to extract additional sensitive information or financial payments.

This scheme specifically preys on people who have already reported fraud or said they plan to. The FBI clarified that the IC3 does not maintain a social media presence and does not contact individuals directly via messaging platforms, phone calls, or email to recover funds, and that any such communication should be treated as fraudulent. Most importantly for anyone who has lost money before: legitimate recovery never starts with a stranger reaching out promising to get your funds back for an upfront fee.

Also on our radar: World Cup ticket scams and classic imposter calls

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup drawing record crowds, the FBI has warned that cybercriminals are actively blanketing the web with fake FIFA websites designed to steal sensitive personal and financial information, identifying dozens of spoofed domains using tactics like typosquatting. AVASC's own incident tracking has picked up matching reports of spoofed ticket resale sites taking peer-to-peer payments for tickets that never materialize.

Meanwhile, classic government-impersonation calls — fake IRS, Social Security, or police officers demanding gift cards, wire transfers, or crypto under threat of arrest — remain, per the FTC's own numbers, imposter scams stole $3.5 billion in 2025, the highest of any reported fraud category. AVASC's incident logs show this pattern is still very active, reinforcing that no real government agency will ever demand instant payment by gift card or crypto to avoid arrest.

Protect yourself

  • Never click links in unexpected texts about tolls, package deliveries, or 'account problems.' Go directly to the organization's official app or website you already know is legitimate.
  • Treat any online relationship that leads to a crypto 'investment opportunity' as a red flag — verify independently and never send money or crypto to a platform a new contact recommends.
  • If a 'job' asks you to pay — in crypto or otherwise — to access earnings you supposedly already made, stop immediately; that is not how legitimate employment works.
  • The real FBI/IC3 will never contact you by social media, phone, or email to offer fund recovery, and will never charge a fee to do so — report suspected impersonation directly at ic3.gov (typed manually into your browser).
  • Buy event tickets only from official sellers (e.g., FIFA.com/tickets or the official app); double-check URLs for extra words or misspellings before entering payment details.
  • If you're ever pressured to act immediately — pay now, don't tell anyone, use gift cards or crypto — pause and verify through a phone number or website you find independently, not one given to you in the message.

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.