It usually starts with an urgent phone call, text or pop-up. Someone from your bank’s “fraud team”, the government or a big tech company says your account has been hacked, your identity stolen, or your money is at risk. They sound calm and professional. They know your name. And they have a solution: move your money somewhere safe, right now, and they’ll guide you through it.

That “somewhere safe” belongs to the scammer.

This is one of the most costly scams aimed at older adults. The US Federal Trade Commission found that reported losses of $100,000 or more by older adults to impersonators rose from $55 million in 2020 to $445 million in 2024.

Plain talk: impersonation scam

An impersonation scam is when a criminal pretends to be someone you trust, such as your bank, the police, a government office or a company like Microsoft, Apple or Amazon, to get you to hand over money or information.

How the safe account scam works

  1. The scare. “There’s suspicious activity on your account.” “Your Social Security number has been used in a crime.” “Your computer has been hacked and your bank account is exposed.”
  2. The rescue. A friendly “officer” or “fraud specialist” offers to protect you. They may pass you to a second person, such as a “government agent”, to seem more official.
  3. The secret. “Don’t tell the bank staff, one of them may be involved.” “Don’t tell your family, it could put them at risk.”
  4. The payment. You’re told to transfer money to a new “safe” or “protected” account, withdraw cash for a courier to collect, buy gold, or feed cash into a Bitcoin ATM.

Safety tip

No real bank, police force, government agency or tech company will ever ask you to move your money to keep it safe. Not once, not in any country, not for any reason.

The three signs it’s a scam

Every scam follows the same pattern. Any one of these is enough to stop:

  • Pressure: you must act now, before you’ve had time to think or talk to anyone.
  • Secrecy: you’re told not to tell the bank, your family or anyone else.
  • Strange payment: transfers to a new account, cash for a courier, gold, gift cards or cryptocurrency.

What to do, step by step

  1. Hang up. You don’t need to be polite, and you don’t need to explain.
  2. Wait, or use a different phone. Scammers sometimes stay on the line after you hang up, so the next call you make goes back to them. Wait a few minutes, or use a mobile if they called your landline.
  3. Call your bank yourself on the number on the back of your card or on a statement. Not a number the caller gave you, and not one from a text or email.
  4. Ask them directly: “Is there any problem with my account?” There almost never is.
  5. Tell someone you trust what happened. It helps, and it protects them too.

Say this

“I don’t discuss my accounts on calls I didn’t make. I’ll call my bank on the number on my card.”

In the UK, you can hang up and dial 159 from any phone. It connects you safely to most major banks.

If you’ve already moved money

Don’t wait and don’t feel ashamed. These are skilled criminals who do this all day.

  1. Call your bank immediately using the number on your card and say: “I’ve been scammed and I’ve transferred money.”
  2. Change your online banking password and any other password you shared.
  3. Report it to the police and your national fraud agency. Here’s where to report a scam in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

Protect your family

This scam works because it sounds so official. Talk about it at the next family meal. Agree that nobody in the family will ever move money because of a phone call without first talking to someone else. A family safe word and our free Scam-Stopper Kit make that conversation easy.