The Federal Bureau of Investigation is sounding the alarm on a wave of rapidly growing schemes where scammers impersonate financial institutions and steal money from unknowing victims.

In these account takeover schemes, fraudsters gain access to a target’s financial assets, such as payroll or savings accounts, “with the goal of stealing money or information for personal gain.”

In the first nine months of 2025 alone, more than 5,100 victims have reported being targeted by these kinds of schemes with losses of more than $262 million, the FBI reported.

“The cyber criminal impersonates the financial institution’s staff or website, to obtain access to the account,” the FBI warns.

“Cyber criminals usually gain access to accounts through social engineering techniques — including texts, call

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