The FTC is not calling to shut off your phone number

Picture your dad answering

The phone rings on the kitchen table. Unknown number. He picks up, because he always picks up.

The caller is calm. He says he’s with the Federal Trade Commission, and that a phone registered under your dad’s name and number is being used to commit scams in another country. The number is about to be shut off.

Then the proof starts arriving, one piece at a time.

How the call goes, according to the FTC

The FTC published an alert about this call on October 22, 2026. This is the order it describes:

1. A badge number. The “FTC official” reads off a badge ID. It’s fake.
2. A transfer to the police. The caller passes you to a “police officer” to file a report. Also fake.
3. A number you get to look up yourself. They tell you what to search online to find the police number. It feels like you’re checking them. You’re not: the search leads back to them.
4. Your details. They ask for your ID and other personal information for the “report”.
5. A request for secrecy. They tell you to keep everything to yourself.
6. The threat. In a later call, you’re told you’re under arrest for the scams tied to your number. Unless you send money for a “security deposit”.

Every step feels like proof. That’s the design.

The giveaway

Nobody official asks you to hide it from your family.

The FTC is plain about what its real employees will never do:

• ask you to send money, or connect you to someone who does
• threaten to disconnect your phone
• tell you to keep your conversations secret
• text you a photo of their employee ID to “verify” who they are

Any one of those, the FTC says, is a scam.

The sneaky part

Most of us already know the rule “don’t trust the number they give you, look it up yourself”. This call is built around that rule. The caller doesn’t hand you a number. He tells you what to search, so that you find it “on your own”.

So the smart move isn’t just to look it up. It’s to pick the source yourself. Type the agency’s own address into your browser, letter by letter. If the caller chose the search, the caller chose the answer.