Fraudcast: Social Media Scams

Transcript:

Kim: Hello and welcome to another episode of EPA Uncovered—the official podcast of the EPA Office of Inspector General. I’m your host, Kim Wheeler, and today we are getting details on three scams you need to know about—straight from a federal agent. With me today to break down real-world schemes that fraudsters are using is Acting Special Agent in Charge George Golliday from our Office of Investigations.

George: Thanks for having me, Kim. Glad to be here and help get the word out.

Kim: George, let’s start with something we’re hearing a lot about—scammers impersonating employees from federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. What’s going on here?

George: Well, scammers impersonating government officials is, unfortunately, nothing new. The Inspector General community has issued numerous warnings in recent years about criminals misusing federal agencies’ names, seals, and employee identities to deceive victims. What is new for us at the EPA OIG is the spike in scams we’re seeing that originate on social media platforms.

Kim: So, instead of dodgy phone calls or phishing emails, fraudsters are now finding people to exploit on the social platforms that most Americans use every day?

George: Exactly. Today, we issued a series of fraud alerts to call attention to three separate scams we’ve identified where fraudsters use social media to target victims, then impersonate EPA officials and solicit money or sensitive personal information for fictitious EPA grants or fines.

Kim: Wow—three separate scams. Can you talk us through them one by one?

George: Absolutely. The first is an impersonation scam where a fraudster will use social media or other electronic means to persuade a victim to apply for a fraudulent EPA grant, then request a payment to “release” the supposed grant funds.

Kim: But how do they convince someone who wouldn’t ordinarily think of applying for an EPA grant to fall for this?

George: Well, in one recent instance, a fraudster hacked the social media profile of a victim’s friend to communicate with him. Posing as the friend, he gave the victim a phony story about qualifying for an EPA grant, told the victim that he was eligible for the same grant, and urged him to take advantage of the opportunity as well. The fraudster put the victim in touch with an imposter “EPA grant official” who then convinced him to send a payment to release the supposed grant funds.

Kim: And the victim readily believed that he was applying for a real EPA grant because he learned about it from someone he knew and trusted, someone who was looking out for him.

George: Exactly. In this case, the fraudster exploited the victim’s trust in a friend, but scammers are creative. They will use people’s trust not only in people but also in official logos, faux credentials, even fake websites to create credibility and lower their victim's guard.