Submitted by Global Scam Watch on
Personation scams

๐‘ท๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ๐‘ถ๐‘ต๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ฐ๐‘ถ๐‘ต ๐‘บ๐‘ช๐‘จ๐‘ด ๐€๐‹๐„๐‘๐“ โ€“ ๐…๐š๐ค๐ž ๐‹๐š๐ฐ ๐„๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐๐š๐ ๐ž๐ฌ โš ๏ธ

๐Ÿ“– ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?

In legal terms, personation is when someone pretends to be a police officer or other law enforcement official. On social media, scammers create fake police or agency profiles to look official and gain your trust often to spread false information, harvest personal details, or trick you into clicking malicious links.

๐Ÿšจ ๐‚๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐„๐ฑ๐š๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž:

 

Scam

A Facebook page claiming to be โ€œFBI โ€“ Seattleโ€ is circulating online. While it uses the FBI name, badge, and a blue checkmark, certain activity raises concerns:

๐Ÿ‘ฎ Claims to be the official FBI Seattle Facebook page

๐ŸŒ Appears to link to official domains in its description, but content and connections raise red flags

๐Ÿ”Ž Follower list includes unrelated and suspicious accounts including non-law enforcement profiles from multiple countries

Scammy followers

These warning signs suggest this may not be an official FBI-managed account, even if it appears convincing at first glance.

๐Ÿ” ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐“๐จ ๐’๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐š๐ ๐ž๐ฌ:

๐Ÿš“ Check the Agencyโ€™s Website โ€“ U.S. law enforcement social media accounts are usually linked from www.fbi.gov or their official.gov pages

๐Ÿ” Inspect Followers & Activity - Large numbers of unrelated or suspicious followers can be a red flag

๐Ÿ“ข Look for Press Releases โ€“ Legitimate alerts should match announcements on the agencyโ€™s site

๐Ÿ›‘ Do NOT Rely on the Blue Check โ€“ Meta Verified can be purchased and is not proof of authenticity

๐Ÿ›ก ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐“๐จ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ:

โœ… Go to the agencyโ€™s official website to confirm any page or post

โœ… Only trust domains ending in .gov (U.S.) or the official equivalent in your country

โœ… Avoid clicking links or sending information to any page you have not verified independently

โœ… Report suspicious accounts to the platform and the relevant agencyโ€™s fraud reporting service (e.g., www.ic3.gov in the U.S.)

โš ๏ธ ๐‘๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ:

Even convincing logos, names, and โ€œverifiedโ€ badges can be faked or misused. Always verify before you trust.