Error: Cannot find control file 'references.bcf'! - did you pass the "backend=biber" option to BibLaTeX?

Make sure you are using:

\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}

As well as you are building with the command:

biber filename

And not:

biber filename.aux 

This example works well with biblatex and biber. Without loading the package, biber cannot work.

\documentclass{IEEEtran} 
\usepackage{biblatex} 
\addbibresource{biblatex-examples.bib}

\begin{document} 

\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{document} 

I am using Texmaker 5.0.2 (compiled with Qt 5.9.1) for Mac, and a "style format" from the AEA (https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/policies/templates).

In my case, the solution was extremely simple: go to TexMaker preferences > Commands > there is a small Bib(la)tex space with a file location. In my case this location used to read: "/usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-darwin/biber" %

I changed it to: "/usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-darwin/bibtex" %

and it works perfectly fine. You can navigate to the directory to find other Bib compilers.

I hope this is useful for someone else.