Fed’s Powell Fooled by Pranksters’ Fake Call from Russia

A group of people pretending to be the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, managed to trick the leader of America’s Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, into talking on the phone with them in January. During this fake call, they discussed how raising interest rates would affect the economy.

Videos of the phone call have been popping up on social media sites. In one video, Powell said that the economy might not do so well this year, which could lead to a recession. This is what he has mentioned before – that if the Federal Reserve increases its interest rate too much, it can damage the economy and even cause an economic downturn.

However, a spokesperson for the Federal Reserve said that they are unsure if any of these videos are accurate because they may be edited.

Chair Powell talked to someone in January, who wrongly said he was the president of Ukraine. This conversation was pleasant and took place while we were supporting Ukrainians in a tough period. No private or important information were shared during this discussion.

The spokesperson did not tell us whether the call showed that the Fed had made any mistakes with security or what they plan to do to stop it from happening again. The spokesperson said that this issue has been given over to police so they can take a closer look and because of this, no more comments will be made about it.

Two Russian people called Vladimir Kutznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov reportedly made a phone call. In the past, these two have tricked other world leaders into talking with them even though they pretended to be someone else. For instance, earlier this year they fooled the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and in 2018 they fooled then-UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Recently, something happened with Powell that is making the Federal Reserve (Fed) get lots of attention. The Fed wants to slow down inflation and make sure the economy is running smoothly by changing rates, but if they change it too much, there could be an economic recession.