NOTE: The following article is satire, not a statement of fact. Treat it as such.
President Slow Joe Biden recently unveiled his executive order on “consumer protection,” with the White House Briefing Room statement on it saying:
As I said in my State of the Union Address, we are cracking down on those unfair, hidden “junk fees” like bank overdraft charges, cell phone cancellation fees, or surprise ticketing costs that sneak up on consumers, hiding the full price of what they are buying or making it much too hard to switch to a cheaper product. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized rules that would require cable and internet providers to list fees and services up front, on clear, easy-to-read labels. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is pressing banks and credit card companies to get rid of surprise overdraft charges, bounced-check charges, and unfair late fees. The CFPB has also proposed new rules to cut excessive credit card late fees from roughly $30 to $8. The Department of Transportation helped convince major airlines to rebook trips for free if they cancel a flight and issued a notice encouraging airlines to seat children next to an accompanying adult at no additional cost. And the FTC has pushed electronics makers to let consumers choose where to get their products fixed, saving on repair costs. These things matter — they add up fast, and when we act together, American consumers will save billions of dollars every year.
[…]Every American has the power to stand up for their own consumer rights and to help protect their communities and loved ones. We urge everyone to visit consumer.ftc.gov to learn more about today’s risks and the resources available for fighting them and to report any suspected fraud. To report issues with a consumer financial product, like aggressive debt collection, inaccurate credit reporting, or unfair medical billing, visit consumerfinance.gov/complaint.
Well, predictably, scammers used that statement to target gullible Americans. Using DeepFake technology and artificial intelligence, the scammers played what sounded like Biden speaking, reading off that script, until it got to the very end. Then, instead of the link, they would insert a phone number or different URL for people to visit or call.
Once they did so, they were asked to provide their social security number and credit card number so that the Biden Administration could discover what scams they had been part of and help them seek restitution. Naturally, thousands of people fell for it. As a result, they lost thousands of dollars each, with the scammers using the information to drain their bank accounts of billions of dollars.
Biden and his administration proved powerless to stop the scam, as the FTC had been staffed with woke and diverse underlings rather than competent individuals, and so made no progress in figuring out how to stop the scam.