Capital One files trademark lawsuit to thwart large-scale scams

Capital One filed a lawsuit Tuesday against operators of alleged “scam campaigns,” accusing them of something unexpected: trademark infringement.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, lists 10 “persons and/or entities of unknown identity” as defendants. Those John Does operate large-scale robocall and telemarketing campaigns that misuse trademarks for Capital One or its subsidiary Discover, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that the defendants use automated or prerecorded calls posing as representatives for the bank, and follow familiar scripts that warn of suspicious charges and ask the recipient to confirm the transaction or their identity. 

“Using these illegal communications referencing the CAPITAL ONE and DISCOVER trademarks, Defendants misled and/or deceived consumers, and targeted consumers across the country,” according to the lawsuit.

Capital One told CNBC that it is using trademark and false advertising law to make its case because the legal process of discovery gives the bank the opportunity to get more information that can help it trace the scammers. 

“This litigation is an opportunity to try and go play a bit of offense,” said Chad Miller, vice president of fraud strategy and analysis at Capital One. New technology has made it easier for companies to see how many scammers are trying to call their customers, he said, versus how much outreach they do on their own. 

The lawsuit comes amid soaring reports of imposter scams — a broad category of fraud in which the scammer poses as a trusted person, such as a family member or a representative of a bank or government agency, in order to gain access to the victim’s accounts or collect personal data.

Imposter scams garnered the most fraud complaints last year, at more than 1 million reports, according to 2025 data from the Federal Trade Commission. Losses topped $3.5 billion, and the median consumer loss was $700. 

Experts say the Capital One lawsuit follows a path forged by tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta, of using private legal action to go after global bad actors. Traditionally, that has been the purview of regulators and law enforcement. Private lawsuits add another layer to address the increasingly complex problem, experts say.

While Capital One’s lawsuit seeks damages, the bank said its primary goal of the litigation is to expose and deter bad actors and the firms that enable them. “This is one of the ways we’re trying to pursue disruption of their infrastructure and their ecosystem,” Miller said.

The Global Anti-Scam Alliance is encouraging more companies to go on the offensive against scammers with private litigation and to cooperate with each other, government agencies and law enforcement, said Nils Mueller, director of the North America chapter of GASA. Capital One is a member of the alliance.

“There’s a lot of space for lawfare, for going after the bad guys through civil litigation to try to take down these networks,” Mueller said. “Let’s not wait around for someone else to solve the problem.” 

“Success is naming, shaming, and punishing the perpetrators that do this stuff, that take advantage of our system, the loopholes, the gray areas to exploit hardworking Americans and people all over the world to steal their money,” he said.

Consumers need to be vigilant: In a 2025 GASA survey, 70% of U.S. adults said they had encountered a scam in the prior year — and 29% said such experiences are a daily occurrence. The group polled 2,500 U.S. adults.

Experts advise becoming familiar with the types of scams out there and discussing them with friends and family. “The more people are aware, the more they can be resilient,” Mueller said.

The FTC recommends using call-blocking and call-labeling options through your cellphone carrier or apps, which can intercept some scam calls and more clearly identify suspicious ones. Use email provider tools to keep more scam messages from reaching you, the agency said.

Be suspicious and verify communications before you take any action, Miller said. For example, if you get an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be a representative of your bank, hang up and then call the number on the back of your debit card, he said.

“You kind of reverse it so that you can actually get to a person you know belongs to that institution and validate whatever they’re trying to get you to do,” Miller said. 

— CNBC’s Sharon Epperson contributed reporting.

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