A financial advice columnist wrote an article Thursday claiming to be the victim of an elaborate scam in which he handed over $50,000 to a fake CIA agent.
Charlotte Cowles, New York Magazine columnistexplained in her article She explained how she got into trouble on October 31st when someone who appeared to be an Amazon customer service representative called her about a mysterious $8,000 charge on her MacBook and iPad account. Told in The Cut. (Related: Teenager miraculously found alive after 'cyber kidnapping' scam)
Cowles wrote that she checked her account and found no such activity. She said that when Ms. Cowles determined that something was wrong, she and her caller agreed that this was likely identity theft. The caller then connected Cowles to the alleged Federal Trade Commission (FTC) liaison responsible for the fraud case.
Cowles wrote that she was told by an alleged FTC representative that he had 22 bank accounts, nine cars and four homes in her name. The representative also claimed that there are warrants out for her arrest in Maryland and Texas on charges of drug trafficking, cybercrime, and money laundering. What caught Cowles' attention was that her agent knew her home address, social security number, the names of her family members, and that her 2-year-old son was playing in her living room. She wrote that this was the case.
He offered to help her by transferring Cowles to a “CIA colleague,” who claimed to be “the lead investigator on the case.” [Cowles’] This incident,” Cowles wrote. This investigator told her not to alert her lawyer, the police, or even her husband, and that if she did not cooperate, her home would be searched, her assets seized, and possibly arrested. I was told that it would be done. Ms. Cowles claims that the only way agents can resolve the issue is to issue her with a new Social Security card, and she must hand over $50,000 in cash to an “undercover agent” sent to do so. she claimed, she wrote. She wrote that although Ms. Cowles complied with the agreement, she now regrets it and believes it was a fraud. She then called the police, who told her:[n]Government agencies may ask you for money. ”
“I say this with love and with the knowledge that the same thing could happen to me, but the fact is that a financial advice columnist paid a scammer who conned him out of cash on the street $50,000. “The New York Editor-in-Chief, Choile Sicha, said: magazinetweeted in response to the story.
I say this with love and in recognition that it could happen to me, but the fact is that a financial advice columnist gave $50,000 to a scammer who scammed him out of cash on the street. about it. https://t.co/8ZvsytJCkO
— Choir (@Choire) February 15, 2024
This elaborate scam is not the first time someone has fallen for a plot allegedly involving fake CIA employees. Garrison Kenneth Courtney, a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) public affairs officer, allegedly stole more than $4.4 million from at least a dozen companies in June 2020 while posing as a covert CIA operative seeking “commercial cover.” Pleaded guilty to defrauding.
