Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Fraud

Scammers are using Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) employee’s names and imagery to try and steal money. The CFPB has heard from victims, specifically older adults, who were defrauded thousands of dollars from scammers pretending to be with the CFPB. It is recommended that if someone contacts you and says that you have won a class-action lawsuit in a foreign country, or can receive other large, unexpected amounts of money, but must use the CFPB’s assistance to claim the funds, they are lying.

These scams often have multiple parts:

• When someone receives a call or email notifying of an opportunity to participate in a class-action lawsuit, that a lawsuit has been won, or money owed not expected.
• One of these messages may come from an imposter claiming to be a CFPB or other U.S. Government agency official confirming that entitlement to a payout.
• Later, the victim is told that to collect the money, her or she must first pay the taxes or some other large upfront fee. They may continue to find “reasons” for the victim to pay more fees or taxes. It is all part of the scam.

If you are contacted by someone from the CFPB, and you want to know whether it’s real or a scam, you can call the consumer call center at (855) 411-2372 between 8:00am. and 8:00pm. ET, Monday through Friday.

Reporting Scams-Other Resources

• Members can report CFPB imposter scams to the Federal Reserve Office of the Inspector General(OIG) and consumer scams to the Federal Trade Commission(FTC).