Help in your language
The honest summary: almost every US federal fraud resource is published in English and Spanish only. For the other languages on this site, the way you get help is not a separate phone number — it's an interpreter on the main number.
That's a real service, it's free, and most people don't know to ask for it. This page is mostly about how to ask.
The one thing to know
When someone answers, say the language in English, then stop talking:
"Urdu, please." "Farsi, please." "Amharic, please."
You'll be put on hold briefly while an interpreter joins. Then you can speak normally in your own language.
You do not need to explain yourself, apologize, or try to get through the call in English first. Interpretation is a standard service these lines are built to provide.
Each fridge sheet on this site carries that phrase in the reader's own language, so it can be read off the refrigerator during the call.
The two helplines
National Elder Fraud Hotline — 833-372-8311
Run by the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. For anyone 60 or older who has been targeted by fraud. Case managers help you report it and connect you to other services.
Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, with services available for speakers of English, Spanish, and other languages.
Free. You can ask to remain anonymous.
AARP Fraud Watch Helpline — 877-908-3360
Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. Free for anyone, member or not. Interpretation available. They also run free support groups for people who have lost money.
Use this one if you want to talk something through before deciding whether anything is wrong. That's what it's for.
Eldercare Locator — 800-677-1116
Connects you to aging services in your own county, which is where language-specific help actually lives. Interpretation available.
This is the most useful number on this page for language access, because local Area Agencies on Aging often have bilingual staff or contracts with community organizations that serve your language specifically.
Reporting online
| Where | Languages | For |
|---|---|---|
| reportfraud.ftc.gov | English, Spanish | All fraud |
| ic3.gov | English | Anything involving internet, phone, or a wire |
| identitytheft.gov | English, Spanish | If personal information was taken |
The FTC's Spanish site is at ftc.gov/es and is a full translation, not a summary.
If you can't complete an online form in English, call 833-372-8311 and ask for an interpreter. The case manager will file the report with you over the phone. This is a normal thing to request.
Language by language
For each language, what actually exists today:
| Language | Federal materials | How to get help |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Full — ftc.gov/es, consumidor.ftc.gov | Direct Spanish-speaking staff on both helplines |
| Chinese | Some FTC and SSA materials | Interpreter: "Chinese, please" or "Mandarin, please" / "Cantonese, please" |
| Vietnamese | Some FTC and SSA materials | Interpreter: "Vietnamese, please" |
| Korean | Some FTC and SSA materials | Interpreter: "Korean, please" |
| Tagalog | Some FTC and SSA materials | Interpreter: "Tagalog, please" |
| Russian | Some SSA materials | Interpreter: "Russian, please" |
| Arabic | Limited | Interpreter: "Arabic, please" |
| Urdu | Limited | Interpreter: "Urdu, please" |
| Hindi | Limited | Interpreter: "Hindi, please" |
| Farsi | Limited | Interpreter: "Farsi, please" |
| Bengali | Limited | Interpreter: "Bengali, please" |
| Armenian | Limited | Interpreter: "Armenian, please" |
| Amharic | Limited | Interpreter: "Amharic, please" |
| Albanian | Limited | Interpreter: "Albanian, please" |
| Pashto | Limited | Interpreter: "Pashto, please" |
| Japanese | Limited | Interpreter: "Japanese, please" |
"Limited" means: assume nothing is published in that language, ask for an interpreter, and you'll be fine.
Other numbers worth having
All of these provide interpretation. Ask the same way.
| Agency | Number |
|---|---|
| Social Security | 800-772-1213 |
| Report Social Security impersonation | 800-269-0271 |
| Medicare | 800-633-4227 |
| IRS | 800-829-1040 |
| Equifax credit freeze | 888-378-4329 |
| Experian credit freeze | 888-397-3742 |
| TransUnion credit freeze | 800-916-8800 |
| Free credit reports | 877-322-8228 |
| Adult Protective Services (Texas) | 800-252-5400 |
Where local help actually comes from
National hotlines give you an interpreter. Local organizations give you someone who already understands the situation — including the scams aimed specifically at your community, which national material rarely covers.
The kinds of places worth asking, in roughly this order:
- Your county's Area Agency on Aging — call 800-677-1116 to find it
- Mutual assistance associations and refugee resettlement agencies — most metro areas have one per major community, and they usually do benefits and fraud help alongside everything else
- Your place of worship — often the single most effective distribution point for this material
- Community health centers with bilingual staff
- Ethnic media — a community radio show or newspaper will often run this material for free
We deliberately don't list specific organizations here. They change, they move, and a dead phone number on a page about fraud does real harm to the trust this whole site depends on. Your Area Agency on Aging will know the current ones for your county.
Help us make this better
If you know a real, current, language-specific resource — a helpline, an organization, a bilingual caseworker who takes these calls — tell us and we'll add it.
Likewise, if you called one of these numbers and asked for an interpreter and it did not work, we want to know that even more. A promise that fails at the moment someone needs it is worse than no promise.
You can do this
Asking for an interpreter is not an imposition and it is not a favor anyone is doing you. It is a service that exists, that is paid for, and that you are entitled to use.
Two words in English — your language, then "please" — and the rest of the conversation happens in the language you think in. That's all it takes.