Scammers convince people to hand over thousands in cash, use couriers to pick it up

Con artists who impersonate government agencies will gladly take cold cash — not just cryptocurrency or gift cards — and, oddly enough, the cash grab could be far more than you'd imagine. Picture stacks of old-fashioned bills in the five-figure range.

Consumers reported a median loss of $14,740 in cash during the first three months of 2024 to scammers impersonating government agencies. Half of those victims reported losing more cash; half reported losing less, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission. The median loss was far higher than for any other type of payment in such scams.

How are scammers getting their hands on the cash? Some consumers mailed the cash to con artists, others handed over the dollars to drivers.

Courier arrives at your door for payment

Scammers can still demand that you pay in a variety of ways. But, according to an FBI alert in June, a new version of the government impersonation scam involves asking victims to withdraw money as either cash or gold and give that payment to a courier who arrives at their home.

Unfortunately, scammers are well-versed in weaving elaborate, threatening stories that catch consumers off guard. Bad threat actors will claim to be from a local police department, the Social Security Administration, Medicare, the Internal Revenue Agency, the FBI, the Michigan Attorney General's Consumer Protection Office, the local health department and even more obscure groups such as the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

But someone who works for a government agency isn't going to pressure you to pay them immediately to solve a problem and demand that you pay with a gift card, wire transfer, payment app, or cryptocurrency. Or cash.

Woman handed scammer $50,000 in a shoebox

Consumers reported losing $76 million when paying cash to government impersonation scammers in 2023, nearly double the $40 million in losses involving cash reported in 2022.

In the first quarter of 2024, consumers reported losing $20 million to government impersonation scams when paying with cash.

Who has that much cash sitting around? Typically, people who have worked for many years, maybe received an inheritance or saved up for retirement. The scammers know how to target people and know how to convince them into taking cash out of their bank accounts or retirement accounts to hand over to someone else.

Back in February, a New York-based writer stunned readers with the admission that she put $50,000 in cash in a shoebox and handed it over to a stranger who pulled up outside of her apartment driving a white Mercedes SUV. The first-person story in The Cut detailed how a rational, even-keeled mother of a 2-year-old boy got played by a call that initially claimed to be from Amazon customer service but then segued into a conversation with an agent from the Federal Trade Commission.

"He told me that 22 bank accounts, nine vehicles, and four properties were registered to my name," wrote Charlotte Cowles, who is a financial advice columnist for The Cut, an online publication that is part of New York magazine.

He texted Cowles a photo of some woman's ID, which he claimed had been found in a car rented under the author's name. That car was abandoned on the southern border of Texas with blood and drugs in the trunk.

Warrants were out for her arrest, supposedly, in Maryland and Texas and she was being charged with cybercrimes, money laundering, and drug trafficking. And she withdrew $50,000 in cash from the bank to fix the mess.

It all quickly spun out of control. So many similar Amazon-related scams that I've written about in the past escalated just as quickly.

Calls from 'Amazon' can escalate quickly to threats of arrest

A call that begins from Amazon somehow ends up with a federal agent on the line to convince you that you'll be arrested soon because you're now suspected of money laundering or something else. The caller might imply that hundreds of thousands of dollars were transferred into questionable accounts opened with your ID information.

The scammers can get anyone all worked up enough to hand over tens of thousands of dollars.

Many times, according to an FBI alert in January, scammers tell consumers, often senior citizens, to liquidate their assets into cash. And then some are encouraged to buy gold, silver, or other precious metals to protect their investments. Typically, they're told to hand over the cash or precious metals to a courier who somehow will protect the asset.

The FBI says: "Never disclose your home address or agree to meet with unknown individuals to deliver cash or precious metals."

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Troy man's experience began with a pop-up on his computer

In May 2023, a Troy man reported that someone who was impersonating the FBI told him that money was being withdrawn fraudulently from his bank by someone in Russia, according to a Troy police report.

The so-called FBI agent directed him to go to the bank and withdraw cash. Then, supposedly, a representative from Chase would pick it up the money from his house in person. The man did as instructed and turned over the cash, according to the police report.

The strange scam all started out with a pop-up on the man's computer that indicated Windows was shut down by a security breach. The pop-up had a phone number to call — which connected the man to the scammers who told the convoluted, but, ultimately convincing, story.

As part of the instructions, the man was told that he could not tell anyone because his phones were being monitored.

The man only realized it was a scam after he paid the money and then texted a family member to come over to the house.

Customer service rep is not working with the feds

A key point to keep in mind is that many major scams will start out with a fairly routine problem. The crooks initially impersonate one company, such as Amazon or Microsoft, and claim that there's an issue, suspicious charges on your Amazon account, a virus on your computer, or an account breach, according to an FTC warning.

But a small issue escalates into very serious trouble. Someone who is impersonating an Amazon employee suddenly needs to connect you with someone who is impersonating the FBI or another government agency. The scammers use an urgent tone, according to an FBI alert, refusing to speak to anyone other than their targeted victim.

Once they get you running scared, they're on their way to closing the deal. And that's how you'll lose huge amounts of cash.

Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) @tompor.