This Money Transfer Scam Fooled a Financial Advice Columnist
If you receive an unsolicited call or email asking you to transfer your savings to another account to “protect” them, do not do so. This is a type of fear-based scam where you hand over your money to scammers under the guise of safety.
Victims of these scams have lost significant amounts of money. Federal Trade Commission data shows that the number of seniors who lost more than $10,000 to these types of schemes quadrupled from 2020 to 2024, and those who lost more than $100,000 increased eightfold over the same period.
A Detroit Free Press report found that an 18-year-old girl wired $4,800 to scammers posing as bank employees. They sent him a fake email warning him of a scam and convinced him to transfer the money from his checking account to an Apple Cash account for “protection.” Another victim lost $17,500 to a scammer posing as her credit union. The scammer convinced her to wire the funds to an account at poker[dot]com. And in February, a financial columnist for The Cut published a story detailing how she gave $50,000 to scammers posing as CIA agents under the elaborate pretense of receiving funds as part of an identity theft investigation.
How Money Transfer Scams Work
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there are three main ways scammers try to convince you to transfer money. The first is by tricking you into thinking there is suspicious activity on your account. In these cases, scammers may impersonate your bank or a company you do business with, such as Amazon.
The second lie, a variation of which fooled The Cut, is that your information is being used to commit a serious crime, such as drug smuggling or money laundering. Scammers may pose as government officials. Some scammers even pose as employees of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the same agency that monitors and warns consumers about such scams.
Finally, this scam may involve phishing attempts involving a device security breach. You may receive a notification on your computer that appears to be from Apple or Microsoft, with a phone number to call. Once you get through, the scammers will tell you that your account has been hacked.
How to protect yourself from this scam
As with any scam, serious warning signs include unwanted messages (email, text, phone, social media, etc.) with a call to action that sounds urgent. Fraudsters try to evoke strong emotions in you, such as fear of having your money stolen or of being prosecuted, to get you to do what they want. Messages related to money and account security are especially common in scams.
You should also be wary of anyone posing as a government agency, financial institution, or reputable company. It’s safe to say that none of these organizations will contact you out of the blue to threaten or demand money, account information, or any other sensitive information. If someone does, hang up or ignore the message and contact the organization directly by going to the app or website, using a trusted URL (type it into your browser’s address bar, as search results can be spoofed), and the contact information listed there.
Finally, never transfer money to “protect it,” no matter who the person on the other end of the line says they are.