Charlotte Cowles, a financial advice columnist for New York Magazine’s ‘The Cut,’ and a site called ‘My Two Cents,’ fell victim to an elaborate phone scam, which is something she had written about in her column and handed over $50,000 cash.
In October last year, the scam began with a call from “Amazon” questioning purchases, which led to the woman who identified her self as “Krista,” found there were two accounts under Cowles’ name; a personal and a business account.
After her discussion with “Krista,” it was determined that the ‘business’ account was fraudulent. “Krista” then “transferred” the call to a ‘Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigator,’ “Calvin Mitchell.” “Mitchell” knew personal information such as Cowles home address, birthdate, a copy of her ID; which was “found near the Mexico border in a rented car under her name with blood and drugs in the trunk, and the last four of her Social Security Number and provided her with a badge number, call back number and let her know the phone call was being recorded. “Mitchell” gave Cowles a laundry list of properties, vehicles, bank accounts, that were listed in her name. “Mitchell” told Cowles she would be charged with cybercrimes, drug trafficking and money laundering. He told her not to tell anyone about their conversation.
Cowles was again “transferred to a CIA agent,” “Michael Sarano” after discussing her real bank accounts with “Mitchell.” “Sarano,” told Cowles, “You are being investigated for major federal crimes… By keeping your husband out of this, you are protecting him.” Cowles was also warned not to tell anyone about the conversation, not to contact an attorney, said that her assets would be frozen, and urged her to go to the bank and withdraw the $50,000 in cash in order to protect her assets.
“Sarano” gave Cowles instructions to hand over the $50,000 cash in a shoe box to a car that would pull up to the bank, and assured her the Federal Government would issue her a check once it was “clean.”
Cowles truly believed she was “under surveillance, her phone was tapped, computer was hacked and she was in danger.”
Many scammers change the caller ID to read the agency they are saying they are from. Amazon, (in this case) the FTC, CIA, or any other Federal agency warns they would never ask for cash, or any other type of personal information through a phone call. They all also warn if you feel you are being scammed, or have been a victim of a scam, to file a report with the
FTC and local law enforcement.
This case is an ongoing investigation.
By - FZ
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