FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2024
Washington, DC

CONTACT:
Andrew Cannarsa
Executive Director
(202) 292-2600

FRAUD WARNING: Impersonation Phone Calls Using Names of CIGIE Officials

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) is warning that scammers are calling people and claiming to be officials from CIGIE. CIGIE recently received reports from across the country that scammers have called people, claimed to be a CIGIE official, and told people that they were facing money laundering charges and needed to mail large sums of money to remove the charges from their record. These calls are scams.

CIGIE will never call you with these or similar claims of pending criminal charges or the need to send money to address criminal charges. In the above cases, scammers are impersonating CIGIE officials to gain people’s trust. They are then making up a story related to criminal charges to compel people to act quickly and are directing people to provide money in a specific way (e.g., mailing cash or cash equivalents, such as gift cards).

Tips to Protect Yourself from Scammers

1. Hang up. If you receive a communication that causes a strong emotional response, take a deep breath. Hang up or ignore the message. Then, talk to someone you trust.
2. Practice caution. If you think a government official is trying to reach you, contact the agency directly and ask if the agency attempted to contact you.
3. Protect your resources. Never pay someone who insists that you pay by mailing them cash or cash equivalents, such as gift cards. Scammers use this tactic because it is hard to track and recover the money.

For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Scams page.

If You Are a Victim

Stop talking to scammers and ignore all attempted communications. Notify financial institutions and protect accounts. Contact local law enforcement and file a police report. File a complaint on the FTC website. Keep financial transaction information and the record of all communications with the scammer.

For additional information, please contact Andrew Cannarsa, Executive Director, CIGIE, at (202) 292-2600, or cigie.information@cigie.gov.

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The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) is an independent entity established within the executive branch to address integrity, economy and effectiveness issues that transcend individual government agencies and aid in the establishment of a professional, well-trained and highly skilled workforce in the Offices of Inspectors General.  For more information about CIGIE and the Inspector General community, please visit https://www.ignet.gov/.  To find and read reports from the federal Inspectors General, please visit https://oversight.gov and follow @OversightGov on Twitter. For information on actions by Inspectors General concerning the pandemic visit https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/.