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Federal Trade Commissioner Lina Khan warned the public about scammers after a New York Magazine financial advice columnist revealed he gave $50,000 to a mysterious man claiming to be an agency investigator.
“Being a victim of a scam can be devastating,” Khan posted on X.
“No one from the 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, transfer you to a CIA agent, or send you text messages out of the blue. ”.
Khan said Americans lost $2.7 billion last year due to vishing, or voice phishing, in which scammers impersonate government agents over the phone.
Her Thursday post on X came hours after Charlotte Cowles published his disturbing story in The Cutthe digital fashion news site that operated under the umbrella of New York Magazine.
The first-person account, titled “The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoebox and Handed It to a Stranger: I Never Thought I Was the Kind of Person to Fall for a Scam,” revealed how Cowles was conned by someone who He claimed to be “an FTC investigator” who “gave me his badge number.”
The “FTC investigator” also claimed to know Cowles’ Social Security number, home address, and date of birth.
The man also claimed Cowles had 22 bank accounts, nine vehicles and four properties registered in his name.
The man told Cowles that she was wanted for arrest in two states in connection with the disappearance of a woman who rented one of the vehicles in Cowles’ name.
The columnist, who feared she was a victim of identity theft, withdrew $50,000 in cash from the bank and gave it to a courier who showed up in a white Mercedes near her Brooklyn apartment.
Cowles wrote that he was told he needed to cancel his old Social Security number and pay cash to the government in order to receive a new one.
Once he made the transfer, they would send him a check with the new Social Security number and he would get his identity back, they told him.
The Post has sought comment from Cowles.
Khan posted a link to an FTC proposal that would impose sanctions against those who impersonate government or business officials.
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