The Federal Reserve System might be the central banking system of the United States, but it is not your bank. To that end, you can’t provide a service provider, merchant, or other entity with the routing number from the Federal Reserve, and if someone asks you to, it’s likely a scam.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta recently issued a scam warning notifying consumers that some ne’er-do-wells are asking potential victims to provide routing numbers or accounts from the Federal Reserve to pay bills.
According to the Fed, the agency has recently received a number of unauthorized transactions in which consumers have tried to use the Fed’s routing number and their personal Social Security numbers as an account number to pay their bills.
The problem with this, the Fed says, is that consumers can not use Federal Reserve routing numbers when making online or e-check bill payments. This is because Federal Reserve routing numbers are used for sorting and processing payments between banks. Additionally, the Fed only provides banking services for banks, not people.
“Any video, text, email, phone call, flyer, or website that describes how to pay bills using a Federal Reserve Bank routing number or using an account at the Federal Reserve Bank is a scam,” the warning notes.
Additionally, any bill payments attempted using the Fed’s routing numbers are being rejected and returned unpaid. As a result, consumers who have attempted to use the Fed’s routing numbers to pay their bills may be subject to penalty fees from the company they were attempting to pay — should they be legitimate.
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