by When New York magazine’s financial advice columnist fell an article that went viral on Thursday about being the victim of a $50,000 scam, my heart skipped a beat.
My own financial planner had gone to jail years ago, which I had narrated in some columns. Almost everyone is vulnerable to scams, at least sometimes. What would I have done if someone had called me and insisted that my children, in particular, were in grave danger?
The writer, Charlotte Cowles, who once had a weekly business column in The New York Times, described the criminals by telling a fantastic story: First, they posed as Amazon and told him he had been a victim of identity theft. A thief then handed it over to someone posing as a Federal Trade Commission investigator, who told him that nine vehicles, four properties and 22 bank accounts were registered in his name. Finally, a so-called “principal investigator” for the Central Intelligence Agency convinced her to withdraw money from her bank and give it to him for safekeeping while her husband and her son watched.
But what would any of those entities do if they thought any of us were in fact Victim of some type of identity fraud? What would they tell us, request and tell us to do?
I called them all and asked them. This is what they said.
Amazon does not have a direct line to the Federal Trade Commission.
Ms. Cowles’ story begins with a call in October purporting to be from Amazon, when a woman on the line told her about $8,000 in fraudulent purchases and said she was a victim of identity theft.
The woman then offered to connect Ms. Cowles to the Amazon link at the FTC. Soon enough, he was on the line.
But Amazon does not transfer customers to the FTC or any other government agency, according to Tim Gillman, a spokesman.
The company sometimes calls people to check account activity, which will likely be much more difficult to do as Ms. Cowles’ story continues to go viral. But if the call seems suspicious, simply hang up and contact them directly through the Amazon app or website.
“Do not call numbers sent by text or email or found in online search results,” Gillman added. And if anyone suggests you download or install Amazon customer service software, don’t do it.
The FTC will not offer a license plate number.
Once Ms. Cowles was on the phone with the alleged FTC investigator, he offered her his license plate number and asked her about the contents of her bank account.
On Thursday afternoon, Lina Khan, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, published in X: “Being a victim of a scam can be devastating. A reminder that no one at @FTC will ever give you a badge number, ask you to confirm your Social Security number, ask you how much money you have in your bank account, wire you to a CIA agent, or send you text messages of nothing. .”
By coincidence, the FTC on Thursday finalized a new rule that gives you more powerful tools to combat criminals impersonating companies. Consumers reported fraud losses of more than $10 billion for the first time in 2023 according to the agency, 14 percent more than the previous year.
Last month, the FTC issued an advert about scammers trying to persuade you to move your money to a safer place. It was very similar to what had already happened to Mrs. Cowles.
The CIA probably won’t call you.
Before inducing her to move her money, the FTC impersonator wanted to hand it over to the lead investigator on her case, who supposedly worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. She had her doubts, but he called from what he thought was the FTC’s main phone number.
She thought he might be “spoofing,” using tools to pretend he was actually calling from that number. But she quickly went on to tell him not to talk to her husband or a lawyer about the situation. Soon, the exchange led to the freezing of her assets and the issuance of a replacement Social Security number.
The CIA declined to comment on the incident. But your website makes some points that are relevant. The agency collects foreign intelligence and carries out covert actions. “We are not a law enforcement organization” the site says. And while it may work with law enforcement entities, it tends to focus on things like counterintelligence and terrorism.
Is Frequently asked questions goes into even more detail, noting that it “does not require employees/contractors to obtain collateral of money or any personal information (such as their Social Security number, driver’s license, or banking information) to enter into a relationship.”
However, Ms Cowles’ contact told her to go to her bank and withdraw $50,000, and not to tell the bank why.
Banks can’t stop you from leaving their branches with a backpack full of $100 bills.
Mrs. Cowles did as her CIA tutor told her. At a Bank of America branch, someone directed her to a set of stairs, where a teller handed her the money and a piece of paper with some warnings about scams.
“Going in, I honestly expected them to say no to my withdrawal or make me wait, but they didn’t,” Ms. Cowles told me by email. “The fraud warning DID make me doubt, but since the scammers had not yet told me to give the money to them, I didn’t feel like it really applied to my situation. In fact, I was so terrified of what would happen if I didn’t follow the instructions that it overcame my skepticism.”
Mrs. Cowles is not an old person. If it was, maybe the bank teller would have slowed things down. Banks are very concerned about senior fraud and will close all accounts a person has if they suspect anything untoward.
Ms. Cowles said she did not blame Bank of America, since what she was, in fact, withdrawing was her money. But do banks usually hand out large amounts of cash?
“Have great efforts to warn customers about how to avoid scams,” a Bank of America spokesman, William P. Halldin, said by email. The bank declined to comment further.
“We do not restrict customers’ access to their money,” Chase spokesman Justin K. Page said by email. “However, there are cases where funds are withheld for additional verification. This includes cases where one of our bankers suspects that our client may be accompanied by someone who appears to be pressuring them. “We train our bankers to look for that.”
The hijackers are in the brains, not in the planes.
The robber who posed as the CIA agent eventually told Ms Cowles to hand him the cash. After all, she said, they were going to accuse her of money laundering; Allowing the agency to convert the money into a government check using her new Social Security number would leave her $50,000 clean.
This sounds absurd. However, it also created a conflicting internal dialogue.
“People who have always used their brains don’t pay attention to their emotions, and I think we need to pay attention to what our bodies are telling us,” he said. Amy Nofziger, director of fraud victim support for AARP’s Fraud Watch Network. “The intestine is actually a scientific dump of chemicals. I’ve heard countless victims tell me, ‘My gut told me I shouldn’t do this, but my brain told me I should.’”
Eva Velásquez, who has seen it all as president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, saw the situation similarly. “Bad actors hijack our brains,” she said. “And it works, because, after all, we are all human.”
Tara Siegel Bernard contributed with reports.
