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An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Fraud Alert: Scammers Claiming to be the Office for Victims of Crime


The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) has received reports that our office's name is being used in government imposter scams. These are usually intended to convince you to send money to scammers who use our office’s name because it sounds serious and legitimate.

We encourage the public to remain vigilant and do not provide personal identifiable information—such as a social security number—or bank account information, or money in response to these false claims.

Examples of scams:

  1. Some scammers falsely represent themselves as OVC Director Kristina Rose and attempt to obtain personal information or money. OVC will never contact you this way.
     
  2. Other scammers may represent themselves as law enforcement, such as INTERPOL, the FBI, or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and claim you have supported a terrorist network, such as Boko Haram. Law enforcement will not demand you pay immediate fines if you have not been convicted of a crime following a trial or plea agreement.

    Then after you have been scammed, you may be contacted again to let you know that you are eligible for victim compensation or victim restitution from OVC and they may attempt to defraud you out of more money. OVC will never offer you victim compensation or restitution this way.

There are other ways our office’s name may be used in scams. Be wary. OVC will never demand money from you or threaten you with legal or criminal action if you do not pay.

View the Federal Trade Commission's How to Spot, Stop, & Report Government Imposter Scams infographic for information on avoiding and responding to these scams.

What to do next

If you have received a scam phone call, email, or message from a government agency do not respond directly. Look up the government agency’s real number on the agency’s site and call to verify the information you received. Do not call the phone numbers provided in the phone call, email, or message until you have confirmed them through another source.

You may report it to the Federal Trade Commission online or by calling 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357). After reporting the incident to the FTC, please notify us by email so we can track the frequency with which this scam is happening.

Date Published: June 8, 2023