Andy Cohen Lost 'A Lot of Money' to a Highly Sophisticated Scam — Here's How to Avoid Becoming a Victim Yourself Consumers reported losing $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022.
By Amanda Breen
Key Takeaways
- Andy Cohen was targeted by scammers posing as his bank's fraud alert system, a situation that escalated due to a recently misplaced debit card.
- The host engaged with the fraudsters for over an hour, which resulted in setting up call and message forwarding that redirected all his bank communications to the scammers.
- Cohen advises consumers to visit their bank in person to deal with potential fraud and to scrutinize email addresses to avoid a similar fate.
These days, scams are more sophisticated than ever — and Andy Cohen just experienced it firsthand.
On a recent episode of his Daddy Diaries podcast, the 55-year-old Radio Andy host opened up about recently being the victim of a scam, which began with an email from what appeared to be his bank's fraud alert system.
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It wasn't completely unexpected, as Cohen had recently misplaced a debit card.
"I did lose a card, and I put in for it, and I got an email saying, 'There might be fraud on your account,'" Cohen said on the podcast. "And I was like, 'Oh, this is attached to the card I lost.'"
Cohen logged into his bank account, but his alarm bells went off when he was prompted to enter his Apple ID and password. The host "bailed," but it was too late — he believes that logging into his bank account on the site gave the scammers full access.
@breakingtherules_pod Andy gets took for thousands on a bank wire fraud scam! #fyp #foryou #breakingtherulespodcast #bravo #andycphen #daddydiaries #wwhl #scam #bankfraud ♬ original sound - Breaking the Rules Pod
"I leave the dentist, I get a call, and it shows up as the bank's name, and they're like 'it's fraud alert,'" Cohen says. "They were naming credits and charges I had made because they clearly had access to my account."
The scammers' number appeared legitimate thanks to caller ID hacking. Still, Cohen admits he should have asked to call them back or pay an in-person visit to the bank to sort things out. But he stayed on the line with the fraudster for over an hour, even entering numbers into his phone that set up call and message forwarding.
As a result, when Cohen got off the line and dialed his actual fraud alert, "all of [his]calls were being forwarded to the scammer" — and so were all of the bank's. "I go to the bank the next day, and these people wired out of two accounts a lot of money," Cohen says.
Now, Cohen suggests anyone in a similar situation head directly to their bank branch to avoid the potential fraud — and take an extra close look at email addresses to make sure they're genuine.
Consumers reported losing $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, an increase of more than 30% year over year — and imposter scams were the most common, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
