Recognize an FTC Impersonator

Scammers impersonate well-known businesses or government agencies in ads in your social media feed, your search results, and on your favorite shopping platforms. They hope you’ll think they’re the real thing and click on their imposter ad. The FTC is exploring additional ways to help protect consumers from these ads and we want to hear from you.

During open enrollment for the Health Insurance Marketplace (Nov. 1 – Jan. 15), you might feel like you’re seeing ads for health insurance plans everywhere you look and getting similar pitches over the phone. These ads and pitches can sometimes be misleading: they might promise things like comprehensive health insurance but actually offer limited benefits. Or be for medical discount cards and not health insurance at all. Other ads might look like they’re from the government or well-known insurance companies — but they’re really from impersonators trying to gain your trust.

Scammers impersonate all kinds of organizations, including reputable charities. And these impersonators sometimes make you believe that you won a charity-sponsored sweepstakes because you’ve donated to that charity. So, if you get a call about a sweepstakes contest you’ve supposedly won from someone who says they’re with a charity you support, how can you tell if the prize is real or a scam?