{"id":287614,"date":"2025-11-28T09:31:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/287614\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:31:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:31:15","slug":"fbi-warns-all-smartphone-users-stop-answering-these-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/287614\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Warns All Smartphone Users\u2014Stop Answering These Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" top-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764322275_235_0x0.jpg\" alt=\"Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters building\" data-height=\"799\" data-width=\"1199\" fetchpriority=\"high\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;margin:0 auto\" width=\"711\" height=\"496\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Do not take any of these calls.<\/p>\n<p>Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>You have been warned. The FBI has just issued a stark <a class=\"color-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ic3.gov\/PSA\/2025\/PSA251125\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-ga-track=\"ExternalLink:https:\/\/www.ic3.gov\/PSA\/2025\/PSA251125\" aria-label=\"new warning\">new warning<\/a> as cyber criminals gain access to customer bank accounts, The bureau says these attackers have already stolen $262 million this year, with the threat likely to get worse over the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>Some of these attacks come at you by <a class=\"color-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/08\/12\/fbi-warning-do-not-reply-to-these-texts-on-your-smartphone\/\" data-ga-track=\"InternalLink:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/08\/12\/fbi-warning-do-not-reply-to-these-texts-on-your-smartphone\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"text\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">text<\/a> or <a class=\"color-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/17\/gmail-and-outlook-warning-do-not-open-any-of-these-pdfs\/\" data-ga-track=\"InternalLink:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/17\/gmail-and-outlook-warning-do-not-open-any-of-these-pdfs\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"email\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">email<\/a>, tricking you into sharing one-time passcodes or even your actual password. \u201cThe cyber criminal then uses login credentials to log into the legitimate financial institution website and initiate a password reset, ultimately gaining full control of the accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"embed-base color-body color-body-border link-embed embed-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/24\/microsofts-new-update-deadline-550-million-windows-users-must-act\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Microsoft\u2019s New Update Deadline\u2014550 Million Windows Users Must Act\" data-ga-track=\"forbesEmbedly:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/24\/microsofts-new-update-deadline-550-million-windows-users-must-act\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForbesMicrosoft\u2019s New Update Deadline\u2014550 Million Windows Users Must ActBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But the new advisory flags phone calls as the most serious risk. \u201cBe suspicious of unknown \u2018banking\u2019 or \u2018company\u2019 employees who call you,\u201d the FBI  warns. \u201cDon\u2019t trust caller ID. Hang up, verify the correct number, and call it yourself. Companies generally do not contact you to ask for your username, password, or OTP.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are a range of other ways in which one of these attacks may target you \u2014 including manipulating search engine results to have a fake login page appear ahead of real pages in the results. That way, even if you hang up a call and search for a legitimate website, you could be fooled into accessing the wrong one.<\/p>\n<p>The lures being users for attacks can vary, but they\u2019re likely to include a <a class=\"color-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/09\/30\/fbi-warning-all-smartphone-users-must-stop-these-calls\/\" data-ga-track=\"InternalLink:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/09\/30\/fbi-warning-all-smartphone-users-must-stop-these-calls\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"sense of urgency\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sense of urgency<\/a> to force you into acting before you have time to think. Fraudulent transactions, hijacked accounts or stolen passwords are always good entry points for an attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce the impersonators have access and control of the accounts,\u201d the bureau says, \u201cthe cyber criminals quickly wire funds to other criminal-controlled accounts, many of which are linked to cryptocurrency wallets.\u201d An attacker might also \u201cchange the online account password, locking the owner out of their own financial account(s).\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"embed-base color-body color-body-border link-embed embed-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/25\/do-not-click-this-porn-site-installs-malware-on-your-device\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Do Not Click\u2014This Porn Site Installs Malware On Your Device\" data-ga-track=\"forbesEmbedly:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/25\/do-not-click-this-porn-site-installs-malware-on-your-device\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForbesDo Not Click\u2014This Porn Site Installs Malware On Your DeviceBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you have fallen victim to any such attack, or if you have shared information or logged into an account using a website you now think may have been fake, contact your bank and explain the situation. And change your online passwords.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst this FBI warning focuses on financial institutions, we\u2019re also seeing new attacks pretending to be technical support \u2014 impersonating <a class=\"color-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/22\/apple-warns-all-iphone-users-do-not-take-these-calls\/\" data-ga-track=\"InternalLink:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/11\/22\/apple-warns-all-iphone-users-do-not-take-these-calls\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Apple\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Apple<\/a> or <a class=\"color-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/08\/31\/if-you-see-this-number-on-your-phone-your-gmail-is-under-attack\/\" data-ga-track=\"InternalLink:https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zakdoffman\/2025\/08\/31\/if-you-see-this-number-on-your-phone-your-gmail-is-under-attack\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"Google\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Google<\/a> or others. The same rules apply. Do not engage. Hang up. Contact the company using their usual means, or ideally log into your account via an app and check for any messages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do not take any of these calls. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images You have been warned. The FBI&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[116872,116871,116870,116874,116873,2306,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-287614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-fbi-delete-text","9":"tag-fbi-do-not-take-call","10":"tag-fbi-smartphone-warning","11":"tag-fbi-stop-sending-texts","12":"tag-fbi-stop-texting","13":"tag-mobile","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}