A NORMALLY financially wary young mother had shelled out over $50,000 in cash, putting it in a shoebox and handing the money to a complete stranger.
The mom had fallen for a scam that is all too common – but there are four ways to avoid becoming the next victim to fraudsters.
A young mother handed a stranger $50,000 after falling victim to a common scam[/caption]
Scams are becoming more and more common in the US[/caption]
The woman shelled out over $50,000 to the scammer despite her better judgement[/caption]
Thanks to modern communication methods in an increasingly connected world, scams are on the rise in America.
Around one in every three US adults experienced a financial fraud or scam since last year, with 40% of them losing money, according to the latest Bankrate Financial Fraud Survey.
It’s not always easy to tell when you’re being scammed, even for someone as financially literate as financial advice columnist Charlotte Cowles.
Cowles, a prominent columnist for The Cut, found herself completely blindsided by fraudsters who managed to squeeze more than $50,000 out of her before she realized what had happened.
On Halloween in 2023, the writer received a call from a person pretending to work for Amazon, she detailed in an article for The Cut.
“A polite woman with a vague accent told me she was calling from Amazon customer service to check some unusual activity on my account,” wrote Cowles, noting that even the Caller ID said Amazon.
The Amazon “representative” asked Cowles if she had recently spent $8,000 on MacBooks and iPads, to which the columnist responded no, even checking her order history to confirm.
The woman on the phone then informed Cowles that there were records of two accounts for her on Amazon – a personal account and a business one.
Cowles, not the owner of a business account, concluded with the rep that she was a victim of identity theft.
The Amazon worker explained that the e-commerce platform had seen a recent surge in identity theft and false accounts recently.
“It had become so pervasive that the company was working with a liaison at the Federal Trade Commission and was referring defrauded customers to him,” wrote Cowles, who gave the representative permission to connect her with him.
The columnist was then put on the phone with a man identifying himself as Calvin Mitchell, who claimed to be an investigator with the FTC.
Mitchell gave her his badge number, phone number, and told her that their call was being recorded, even confirming Cowles’ home address, date of birth, and the last four digits of her Social Security Number.
“I’m glad we’re speaking,” said the investigator. “Your personal information is linked to a case that we’ve been working on for a while now, and it’s quite serious.”
The man informed Cowles that 22 bank accounts, nine vehicles, and four properties were registered to her name, with the bank accounts having wired over $3 million overseas, mostly to Jamaica and Iraq.
Mitchell then sent her a photo of a woman’s ID, claiming that it was discovered near the Mexico border in a vehicle rented under Cowles’ name with blood and drugs in the trunk.
He then told her there were warrants out for her arrest in Maryland and Texas, where she was being charged with cybercrimes, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
“I Googled my name along with ‘warrant’ and ‘money laundering,’ but nothing came up. Were arrest warrants public? I wasn’t sure. Google led me to truthfinder.com, which asked for my credit-card information — nope,” she wrote.
Bank tips for avoiding scams
As scams become more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, it is important you know how to spot a scam:
- Be skeptical of online deals that seem too good to be true, especially on social media.
- Scammers will often use tactics to make you panicked so you make quick decisions – be cautious if you are told to take immediate action and verify who has contacted you.
- Chase Bank warns customers to “never return any unexpected funds without calling Chase first.”
- Never send money to someone you have only spoken to online or by phone as this is likely a romance scam.
- Unless you 100% know who you are talking to, never give someone remote access to your device.
- Never accept help from strangers at an ATM and always be vigilant when making withdrawals.
- Do not send money or click any links indicating that you have won a prize.
Source: Chase.com
In a panic, the columnist texted her husband that her identity had been stolen – a text she quickly deleted under a warning from Mitchell, who said that everyone around Cowles was a suspect.
“These are sophisticated criminals with a lot of money at stake,” he warned. “You should assume you are in danger and being watched. You cannot take any chances.”
Cowles then shared with him that she had two bank accounts with more than $80,000 total in them, as well as a hefty emergency fund due to her work as a freelance writer.
Mitchell warned her not share her bank account information with anyone, promising to help her keep her money safe and transferring her to his colleague at the CIA – the lead investigator on her case.
PRICEY LESSON
The man, calling himself Michael Sarano, warned her not to tell a soul or even contact a lawyer, telling her she would then be considered “noncooperative.”
“Your home will be raided, and your assets will be seized. You may be arrested,” he told her.
He warned her that all of the assets in her name would likely be frozen by the CIA and she would need to survive off of cash for a year or more.
Sarano then urged Cowles to immediately head to the bank and withdraw as much money as her family would need, which she estimated to be roughly $50,000.
Cowles did as he instructed, with the call still connected and her phone concealed in her pocket.
“The woman behind the thick glass window raised her eyebrows, disappeared into a back room, came back with a large metal box of $100 bills, and counted them out with a machine. Then she pushed the stacks of bills through the slot along with a sheet of paper warning me against scams,” wrote the columnist.
Despite her distrust in Sarano, she followed his commands and put the money in a shoebox once she got home, took a photo of it, and taped it shut, preparing it for an “undercover CIA agent” to come pick up.
The government would then send Cowles a check for the full amount that was “clean,” he told her, explaining that assets under her current identity were part of the investigation.
“A white Mercedes SUV pulled up to the curb. ‘The back window will open,’ said the man on the phone. ‘Do not look at the driver or talk to him. Put the box through the window, say ‘thank you,’ and go back inside,’” described Cowles.
Once the car pulled away, the realization that she had been scammed hit her hard.
The writer told her husband the entire story, called 911, and filed a police report.
In the following weeks, Cowles did some research on scams and spoke with other victims, discovering that a good amount of her personal information could be easily be gathered online on the dark web, or even with a quick search of her social media.
WRITER’S BLOCKED
Cowles ignored her instincts throughout the scam, pushed by fear and an authoritative voice telling her what to do and even threatening her.
“The man on the phone knew my home address, my Social Security number, the names of my family members, and that my 2-year-old son was playing in our living room,” wrote the columnist.
“He told me my home was being watched, my laptop had been hacked, and we were in imminent danger.”
The writer ended up handing over much of her life savings despite even writing stories about scam advice, admitting the irony of her being a finance columnist.
Fraudsters generally target victims that fit four criteria: being single, lonely, economically insecure, and having low financial literacy, Cowles explained.
“I am none of those things. I’m closer to the opposite,” she wrote. “In other words, I’m not a person who panics under pressure and falls for a conspiracy involving drug smuggling, money laundering, and CIA officers at my door. Until, suddenly, I was.”
Despite stereotypes about scams, younger adults including Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X, are 34% more likely to report losing cash to fraud compared with those over 60, per a FTC report.
Well-educated individuals or those with good jobs are just as likely to be a scam victim as everyone else, according to another study.
THINK TWICE
The FTC, which investigates consumer fraud, shared four common signs of a scam.
The first is that a fraudster will pretend to be from an organization that their target recognizes, such as the FTC, IRS, CIA, Amazon, Medicare, or even charity.
The scammer will then alert the victim that there is a problem or a prize, such as that you owe money or you won money in a lottery.
Next, they will pressure you to act immediately, such as by directing you to head to your local bank right away, and potentially threaten you.
Scammers frequently tell victims that they need to pay a specific way, such as through cryptocurrency, gift cards, or payment apps.
Many others have fallen victim to scams.
An elderly couple lost $45,000 in a quick click from a common scam, losing their entire life savings in a flash.
Another woman had her 200-year-old home stolen in a common property scam – it was sold online for $45,000.
Americans lose billions of dollars to scams each year[/caption]
