The caller ID shows your bank’s name, and the person on the phone already seems to know something about your account. There’s supposedly suspicious activity underway, and the “fraud specialist” says you need to move your savings immediately to a secure account before criminals steal it. Don’t do it: you’re likely dealing with a safe account scam, an increasingly costly form of impersonation fraud designed to make you authorize the theft of your own money. The Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with bank impersonators accounting for the highest reported losses among business impersonators. The most important thing to remember is remarkably simple: a legitimate bank will not call and instruct you to transfer your savings somewhere else to protect it from fraud.
