A letter claiming to come from the FBI is almost certainly fake if it demands money, threatens immediate arrest, or arrives by email asking you to click a link. Genuine FBI letterhead carries the Bureau’s seal, the “Federal Bureau of Investigation” and “United States Department of Justice” names, the address of FBI Headquarters or a specific field office, a real date, and a formal case file number. Fake FBI letterhead is one of the most common tools in government-impersonation scams, and once you know what the real thing contains and how the Bureau actually contacts people, spotting a forgery takes only a few minutes.
What Genuine FBI Letterhead Contains
Real correspondence places “FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION” prominently at the top of the page, along with “United States Department of Justice” and the address of FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., or the field office handling the matter. The FBI seal anchors the page and has specific elements worth knowing: a dominant blue field, a shield with red and white stripes, a circle of 13 stars for the original states, and laurel branches with exactly 46 leaves, one for each state in the Union when the Bureau was founded in 1908. The motto “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity” appears inside the seal, and gold coloring runs throughout.1Federal Bureau of Investigation. Seal and Motto
Beyond the visuals, legitimate letters carry internal tracking that scammers rarely get right. Look for a specific date, a formal case file number, and identification of the field office or division that sent the letter. A generic placeholder like “Case #12345,” a missing date, or no identified office is a strong sign of a forgery. Typos, awkward phrasing, and grammatical errors are also common in fakes; real Bureau correspondence passes through review before it goes out.
Red Flags That Reveal a Fake
The fastest test is to look at what the document tells you to do. The FBI has stated publicly what it will never do in any communication.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Warns Public to Beware of Scammers Impersonating FBI Agents and Other Government Officials
- Demand payment by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or any other method to avoid arrest or settle a case.
- Threaten immediate arrest unless you pay a fine or fee within a short window.
- Ask you to use your own money to help “catch a criminal” as part of an undercover operation. The Bureau does not recruit random citizens.
- Call you about a “frozen” Social Security number. The Social Security Administration does not freeze numbers, and the FBI does not call people about them.
Scammers sometimes send fake “clearance letters” claiming an investigation into you has ended and you owe a processing fee. Others forge documents styled to look like they come from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is the FBI’s own fraud-reporting arm. If a document creates urgency and attaches a dollar amount, treat it as fraudulent until you verify it independently.
Email is even easier to fake than paper. Fraudulent messages often paste the FBI Director’s photo or the Bureau seal into the body to look official, and scammers have spoofed addresses like mail@fbi.gov and admin@fbi.gov. The Bureau has stated plainly that it “does not conduct business this way” through unsolicited email.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Don’t Be Fooled By FBI E-mails An @fbi.gov return address is not proof the message is real.
How the FBI Actually Contacts People
When the Bureau needs to reach someone about an investigation, agents typically show up in person or send correspondence through the U.S. Postal Service. For an interview or to serve a subpoena, an agent usually comes to the door, presents Bureau credentials, and explains the purpose of the visit. You are not required to speak with agents during a voluntary interview, and you can ask to have an attorney present before answering questions.
Grand jury subpoenas arrive through formal legal channels and identify the court, the grand jury, the date you must appear, and the specific testimony or materials sought. The Department of Justice requires that subpoenas served on targets or subjects of an investigation include a written “Advice of Rights” form explaining that you may refuse to answer questions that would incriminate you and that you may consult with an attorney.4United States Department of Justice. Justice Manual 9-11.000 – Grand Jury That formality is hard for scammers to reproduce. No real subpoena tells you to call a toll-free number and pay a fine.
If you are the victim of a federal crime, you may receive letters through the Department of Justice Victim Notification System. Legitimate VNS letters contain a Victim Identification Number and a Personal Identification Number that let you access case updates through a secure portal or call center.5Department of Justice. Victim Notification System A “victim notification” letter without those identifiers, or one that asks you to pay a fee, is not from the DOJ.
One boundary worth knowing: National Security Letters go to communications providers and financial institutions, not to individuals.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2709 – Counterintelligence Access to Telephone Toll and Transactional Records If a document arrives at your home addressed to you personally and calls itself a National Security Letter, it is fake.
How to Verify a Suspicious Document
Never use any phone number, email address, or website link printed on the document itself. Scammers include their own contact information precisely so that “verifying” the letter connects you straight back to them.
Go directly to the FBI’s field office directory at fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices, which lists all 56 field offices with verified phone numbers.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Field Offices Call your nearest office and ask whether the correspondence is genuine. If the letter names an agent, the office can confirm whether that person exists and is assigned to a relevant case. If it references a case number, the office can check that too.
When you visit any government website to verify a document, look for the .gov domain and the lock icon indicating a secure connection. Official federal sites display a notice that the site is “an official website of the United States government.” The five minutes this call takes can save you thousands of dollars.
How to Report a Fake FBI Document
Report the document even if you did not fall for it. Your report helps investigators track scam operations and warn other targets.
For fake correspondence received by email, text, or any online channel, file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. IC3 is the FBI’s central hub for cyber-enabled crime reports, and complaints are analyzed and may be referred to federal, state, local, or international law enforcement.8Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Home Page Include copies of the document, the sender’s email or mailing address, and any records of money you sent.
For fraud that arrived by physical mail or otherwise didn’t involve the internet, submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov or call your local field office using the verified number from fbi.gov/contact-us.9Federal Bureau of Investigation. Contact Us
What to Do If You Already Responded
If you sent money or shared personal information before realizing the document was fake, move quickly. Speed affects whether funds can be recovered and how much damage a scammer can do with your information.
Contact the company you used to send the payment. If you paid by credit or debit card, call your bank and request a fraud reversal. For wire transfers, contact Western Union (1-800-448-1492), MoneyGram (1-800-926-9400), or your bank’s wire department and ask them to reverse the transaction. Gift card payments are harder to recover, but contact the card issuer, explain the scam, and ask for a refund. Cryptocurrency payments are generally not reversible, though you should still report the transaction to the platform you used.10Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You Were Scammed
If you gave a scammer your Social Security number or other identifying information, go to IdentityTheft.gov to create a recovery plan. The site generates an FTC Identity Theft Report and walks you through steps like placing fraud alerts on your credit reports and disputing fraudulent accounts.11Federal Trade Commission. IdentityTheft.gov Change any passwords you may have shared, enable two-factor authentication on your financial accounts, and file the IC3 complaint so the FBI has a record of the scam.