FTC May Update Rule on Impersonation Scams

The Federal Trade Commission announced on September 24th that is considering whether to update its rule on "Impersonation of Government and Businesses" or take other action to prevent online platforms from engaging in ad-optimization practices that may be furthering impersonation scams.

The FTC is seeking comment on the extent to which ad-optimization tools and services offered by social media, search engines and other digital marketplace platforms further efforts by scammers to impersonate legitimate businesses and government agencies using online ads.

“Free markets depend on trust, transparency and consumers’ ability to make informed choices,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Impersonation scams – especially when amplified by digital platforms that profit from them – do more than rob Americans of their hard-earned money, they erode the very foundation that allows competitive markets to function.

"Today’s impersonation scams are no longer the work of isolated con artists; they are sophisticated, highly engineered operations powered by the same advertising and targeting tools that platforms sell to legitimate businesses," he said. "Consumers reported nearly $3.5 billion in losses to impersonation fraud last year, and the true cost is likely far higher.

“Today’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking asks whether the commission should require platforms to take concrete steps to prevent impersonation ads from ever reaching consumers," he added. "By exploring potential new obligations platforms would have to follow, the rulemaking aims to ensure that Americans participate in an online economy where truthful information guides consumer choice.”

Impersonation scams have topped the list of fraud complaints reported to the FTC by consumers in recent years. In 2025, the FTC received more than 1 million reports about imposter scams from consumers, who reported losing nearly $3.5 billion to such scams.

In addition, online platforms play an important role in many scams. For example, nearly 30% of consumers who reported losing money to scammers in 2025 said they were first contacted on social media platforms, with reported losses reaching $2.1 billion.

The ANPRM notes that impersonation scams have been amplified by search engines, social media and other digital marketplace platforms that profit from optimizing online ads for third parties, regardless of whether the third parties are legitimate. The ANPRM seeks comment on a wide range of topics related to the use of these ad-optimization tools and services and the proliferation of ads that impersonate businesses and government agencies including:

• The financial incentives driving these platforms to offer ad-optimization tools and services, details on how each tool and service optimizes the content and delivery of the ad, and the steps platforms currently take to prevent the use of such tools and services for deceptive advertising

• The extent to which these platform ad-optimization tools and services constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices by furthering impersonation scams

• Whether these unfair or deceptive acts or practices are prevalent in the marketplace and whether the commission should address these acts or practices by amending the existing Impersonation Rule, proposing a new separate rule or implementing non-regulatory Measures

• Measures the commission could consider in crafting any new regulations, including vetting advertisers, monitoring posted ads, investigating suspected impersonation scam ads, removing confirmed impersonation scam ads and pursuing disciplinary action against the offending advertisers

Information about how to submit comments is at http://www.regulations.gov/document/FTC-2026-1552-0001.The comment period ends on November 30. Submitted comments will be posted at Regulations.gov.

You can report fraud, scams and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. For more information about consumer topics, visit http://www.consumer.ftc.gov.