Trade
By means of Ariel Zilber
Revealed
Feb. 16, 2024, 4:37 p.m. ET
Federal Industry Commissioner Chair Lina Khan warned the general public about scammers after a New York Mag monetary recommendation columnist published she passed over $50,000 to a thriller guy who claimed to be an company investigator.
“Being the sufferer of a rip-off may also be devastating” Khan posted on X.
“No one from the FTC will ever provide you with a badge quantity, ask you to verify your Social Safety quantity, ask what quantity of money you’ve gotten on your checking account, switch you to a CIA agent, or ship you texts instantly.”
Federal Industry Commissioner Lina Khan warned the general public in line with a tale a few monetary recommendation columnist being scammed out of $50,000. REUTERS
Charlotte Cowles, a monetary recommendation columnist with New York Mag’s The Lower, was once scammed out of $50,000. Brian Ach
Khan stated American citizens misplaced $2.7 billion closing yr as a result of vishing, or voice phishing — the place scammers impersonate executive brokers over the telephone.
Her Thursday publish on X got here hours after Charlotte Cowles printed her troubling story on The Lower, the virtual model information web site that operated beneath the umbrella of New York Mag.
The primary-person account — headlined “The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Field and Passed It to a Stranger: I by no means idea I used to be the type of user to fall for a rip-off” — published how Cowles was once taken in by way of anyone claiming to be “an investigator with the FTC” who “gave me his badge quantity.”
See more1. Being the sufferer of a rip-off may also be devastating.A reminder that no one from @FTC will ever provide you with a badge quantity, ask you to verify your Social Safety quantity, ask what quantity of money you’ve gotten on your checking account, switch you to a CIA agent, or ship you texts instantly.— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) February 15, 2024
The “FTC investigator” additionally purported to grasp Cowles’ Social Safety quantity, house deal with and date of start.
The person additionally claimed that Cowles had 22 financial institution accounts, 9 cars and 4 homes registered to her title.
Cowles was once instructed by way of the person that she was once sought after for arrest in two states in reference to the disappearance of a girl who rented one of the vital cars beneath Cowles’ title.
The columnist, who was once frightened she was once the sufferer of id robbery, withdrew $50,000 in money from the financial institution and passed it to a courier who confirmed up in a white Mercedes close to her Brooklyn rental.
Cowles wrote that she was once instructed she had to shut down her outdated Social Safety quantity and pay the money to the federal government in order that she may just obtain a brand new one.
Cowles wrote that she was once duped by way of a person at the telephone posing as a central authority agent. Charlotte Cowles/X
As soon as she made the handoff, she can be despatched a take a look at beneath the brand new Social Safety quantity and thus have her id restored, she was once instructed.
The Submit has sought remark from Cowles.
Khan posted a hyperlink to an FTC proposal which might levy consequences in opposition to those that pose as executive or trade officers.
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