‘Financial Advice’ Columnist Admits She Fell For Scam That Cost Her $50,000

Sports gambler holding money in Las Vegas

One would typically not expect a financial advice columnist to fall for a money scam, nor that they would publicly air the misjudgment, but that’s exactly what The Cut’s Charlotte Cowles did on Thursday.

“The day I put $50,000 in a shoe box and handed it to a stranger I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam,” Cowles wrote at the top of the column.

Cowles detailed the wild scam which ended with her handing a shoebox full of $50,000 (the contents of her savings account) through the open window of a white SUV driving by her home.

According to Cowles, it began with a call from someone claiming to be with Amazon and flagging suspicious purchases, which Cowles could find no proof of. She was then connected to a “liaison” with the Federal Trade Commission who had her social security number and claimed she was not only connected to a large financial scam case, but that there were warrants for her arrest in two states.

The man who identified himself as “Calvin” told Cowles to not tell anyone in her life about what was going on because everyone was “suspect.”

“These are sophisticated criminals with a lot of money at stake. You should assume you are in danger and being watched. You cannot take any chances,” the man told Cowles.

From there, she was connected with a “Michael” supposedly from the CIA who warned her against involving an attorney, claiming she was connected to extensive criminal activity.

“If you talk to an attorney, I cannot help you anymore. You will be considered noncooperative. Your home will be raided, and your assets will be seized. You may be arrested. It’s your choice,” Cowles recalled him saying.

According to this “CIA” agent, time was of the essence and Cowles was to be given a new social security number and her accounts would be frozen.

Cowles wrote:

He asked me how much cash I thought I would need to support myself for a year if necessary. My assets could be frozen for up to two years if the investigation dragged on, he added. There could be a trial; I might need to testify. These things take time. “I don’t know, $50,000?” I said. I wondered how I would receive paychecks without a bank account. Would I have to take time off from work? I did some mental calculations of how much my husband could float us and for how long.

“Okay,” he said. “You need to go to the bank and get that cash out now. You cannot tell them what it is for. In one of my last cases, the identity thief was someone who worked at the bank.”

Cowles ended up on her Brooklyn street in October of last year handing the shoebox to what she was told was an undercover CIA agent. When Cowles questioned the logic of what was happening, she was told she was likely being watched and her family was in danger. According to “Michael,” the money would be secured for her and then a Treasury check would be delivered to her in the same amount, enough to live for a year on cash. She was told she’d likely need to testify and was sent a photo of the supposed hard copy of the check.

After contact with “Michael” was broken, Cowles came clean to her husband and, eventually, her readers.

Cowles said the money was nearly everything she had and explained she kept a robust savings as a freelancer in a volatile industry. As a freelancer, she would also need to save money annually to pay her taxes, which are not directly taken from her checks.

“I still don’t believe that what happened to me could happen to anyone, but I’m starting to realize that I’m not uniquely fallible,” she wrote. “Several friends felt strongly that if the scammers hadn’t mentioned my son, I would never have fallen for this. They’re right that I’d be willing to do — or pay — anything to protect him. Either way, I have to accept that someone waged psychological warfare on me, and I lost.”

You can read Cowles’ lengthy and wild column with more details on “Michael” and others here.