SOURCE: Alvaro Puig, Consumer Education Specialist, FTC

Scammers pretending to be from the government tell convincing stories to steal your money or personal information. But now they’re taking a new, layered approach — and here are some clues to spot it.

The scammers first say they’re with a company and contact you about a routine problem, like suspicious charges on your Amazon account, a  virus on your computer, or an account breach.

The story quickly escalates: They lie and say your name is involved in serious crimes and claim the court is about to seize the money in your bank account or retirement savings. (Also a lie.)

Next, they switch from being the bearer of bad news to acting like the hero. How? By (supposedly) connecting you to someone with the government to “help” you fix the problem.

But the person they transfer you to doesn’t work for the government. And they don’t help. They want to trick you into taking cash out of your bank or retirement account and giving it to someone.

Here’s what to know about how scammers try to deceive you:

• Scammers try to convince you they’re with the government to gain your trust by faking the caller ID to make it look like a government agency is calling.
• Scammers give you an employee ID or badge number or use the name of a real government employee.
• Scammers send official-looking letters with seals and make up government agency names that sound real but aren’t.

Someone who works for the government won’t tell you to get cash or gold and give it to someone. They won’t tell you to pay with a gift card,  wire transfer, payment app, or cryptocurrency. They won’t tell you to keep your conversation a secret or to lie to anyone. They won’t tell you to transfer money from your accounts to “protect” it or for any reason. Only scammers do those things.

Check out How To Avoid Imposter Scams for more advice. And to report an imposter scam to the FTC, go to  ReportFraud.ftc.gov.