Attorney General Consumer Alert: Protect Yourself from Deepfake Telemarketing Scams (April 18, 2025)

Summary

The District's Attorney General warned residents, especially seniors, about telemarketing scams that use AI-generated audio and video to impersonate relatives, friends, businesses or officials, often to obtain emergency payments, financial information or account access. The alert lists warning signs (unexpected contact, urgency, and requests for wire transfers, gift cards, cash or cryptocurrency) and advises residents not to share personal or financial information, to hang up and call back on a known number, and to report suspected scams to the Office's Consumer Protection team. It is consumer guidance, not a rule.

Key dates

1. April 18, 2025 (date of issue)Takes effect
2. October 16, 2026Checked against sources

Developments are added when the record is reviewed. Next review: January 15, 2027.

Evidence

Each passage is quoted from its source. The quoted passages are re-checked against the live pages every month.

1. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today issued the below Consumer Alert to District residents, warning of sophisticated telemarketing scams that target victims with fake audio or video recordings of people they know

   Supports: Issuer and subject

   Attorney General Schwalb Issues Consumer Alert to Protect District Residents from Deepfake Telemarketing Scams April 18, 2025

   Supports: Date

   Be skeptical of requests for wire transfers , gift card purchases, cash withdrawals, payment using cryptocurrency, or other requests that seem out of character for the person or organization contacting you.

   Supports: Payment-request warning signs

   Attorney General Schwalb Issues Consumer Alert to Protect District Residents from Deepfake Telemarketing Scams Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia Primary source