Here’s How Andy Cohen Was Scammed Out Of A Bunch Of Money
Y’all. Scammers are ruthless…
They just hit Andy Cohen for a bunch of money — I mean a BUNCH of money — and now he’s warning people not to let it happen to you.
So, here’s what happened…
It all started when Andy misplaced his debit card.
He contacted the bank to let them know he had lost the card, and then he waited.
In the meantime, he gets an email from someone stating they are from the “fraud department” of his bank. The email says that there has been fraudulent activity on his account.
Andy naturally assumed this was related to the card that he had reported missing.
Spoiler Alert — it wasn’t.
Mistake one. He clicked on a link in the email — NEVER click on links!! — and it took him to his banking site, where it wanted him to log in.
I logged into my bank account, and it asked me for my Apple ID and password, and I was like, ‘OK, this never happens.’ So I bailed, but I had already logged into my bank app. I think logging into this site gave them access to my bank app.
Andy Cohen
Andy then gets a call — which actually showed up as his bank on the phone — and the person on the line told him that it was a “fraud alert.”
Keep in mind, the scammers now had access to his bank account.
The scammers started naming credits and charges that he had made — because they could clearly see them on his banking page, although he didn’t realize this.
Andy ended up staying on the phone with the scammers for an hour and ten minutes, meticulously going over charges that had been made on his account.
What I should have done is say, ‘Can I call you back?’ or ‘Can I go to the bank and handle this.’
Andy Cohen
The scammer on the phone asked Andy to go into his phone, and enter a bunch of numbers onto the keypad.
What this did was actually set up call and message forwarding on his phone — although he didn’t realize that is what was happening.
She’s like, ‘Someone is trying to place a charge on your card at a Walmart in Minneapolis. Do you know this person?’ I said no. She said, ‘Do you want us to prosecute?’
The scammer ended up saying that they had some additional work to do, and would give him a call back.
He never received a call back — so he tried calling the fraud department at his bank.
Keep in mind, the scammers had set up call forwarding on Andy’s phone, so they were actually intercepting the calls.
What happened was the bank called me to confirm (the large sums of money) that these fraudsters (wired), and because I had set up call forwarding, the calls went to the scam artists, and they confirmed the wires
Andy Cohen
Andy is now issuing a warning, and a bit of advice for anyone who happens to go through the same situation.
Y’all. Scammers are real, and they are ruthless. They are getting really good at their jobs, and you have to be skeptical about EVERYTHING these days.
My advice is that if something is happening, just go to your bank branch! And if you get emails, look very closely at the email address. It might say your bank’s name, but click on the name, and the email address will appear, and you’ll see that it’s another address.
Andy Cohen
