{"id":27083,"date":"2024-01-30T16:19:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T00:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?p=27083"},"modified":"2024-02-02T08:55:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T16:55:36","slug":"lessons-of-the-scam-that-fooled-andy-cohen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/lessons-of-the-scam-that-fooled-andy-cohen\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Unpack the Sophisticated New Scam that Tricked Andy Cohen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re a fan of the Bravo network, you\u2019ll know Andy Cohen as the host and producer of Watch What Happens Live<\/em> with Andy Cohen, and producer of the popular Real Housewives <\/em>franchise.  But if you happened to tune into the Today Show<\/em><\/a> on January 10th, 2024, you\u2019d have seen him in a different role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That morning he put on a \u201cconsumer advocate\u201d hat, and went on Today <\/em>to talk about how he\u2019d been scammed out of a considerable amount of money.  He wanted to warn viewers about how he was fooled, in the hope that perhaps they\u2019d be less likely to fall for the same con game.  We think that\u2019s admirable \u2013 it can\u2019t have been easy for him \u2013 so in support of his goal, we\u2019re going to break down that scam for you in detail.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scams Pit Pros Against Amateurs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy for the rest of us, in the great \u201cMonday morning quarterback\u201d tradition, to assume that people who fall for scams are gullible or did something stupid.  That\u2019s not usually the case.  Sure, some scammers are clumsy and unsophisticated, but a lot of them are smoothly competent professionals<\/a>.  When professionals go head-to-head with amateurs (the rest of us), chances are that the professionals will win.  It\u2019s a numbers game for them: if they\u2019re persistent in what they do, they know they\u2019ll catch people in an unguarded moment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s very much what happened in Cohen\u2019s case.  Through sheer coincidence, he\u2019d lost his debit card the day before and reported it to his bank.  When he received a phishing message the next day, claiming to be from his bank\u2019s fraud prevention department, he made the natural assumption that it was related to his lost debit card.  His guard was down.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear, here, Andy Cohen is no dummy.  He\u2019s had a successful career in the notoriously cutthroat entertainment business, where dreams die a lot<\/em> more often than they come true.  Gullible people get weeded out pretty quickly, in that game.  As he pointed out in the Today Show<\/em> interview, he\u2019s usually the one warning his parents<\/a> about this kind of scam.   Like most readers of this blog, he\u2019s a competent and reasonably well-informed consumer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Andy Cohen got Phished<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The scam that took Cohen\u2019s money started, as we said, with a phishing email<\/a> claiming to be a fraud alert from his bank.  Because he\u2019d lost his debit card the previous day, he accepted this at face value.  From there, things played out very much as the attackers would have wanted.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He Didn\u2019t Check the Email Address<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

His first mistake, he says, was not verifying the email address.  Most email clients show you who<\/em> the sender is, rather than the actual email address (so it will say \u201cMom,\u201d for example, not \u201cmomsemail@emailprovider.com\u201d).  You can see the underlying email address by hovering your mouse over it on a computer, or by long-pressing on your mobile device, but Cohen didn\u2019t do that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be clear, attackers can sometimes spoof<\/em> (fake) email addresses<\/a>, but don\u2019t always bother.  So if the email came from \u201csoundslikeyourbank@domain.com,\u201d instead of \u201csomething@yourbank.com,\u201d it\u2019s a fake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He Clicked On the Link<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Andy\u2019s second mistake was opening the link in the email they\u2019d sent him.  We harp on this a lot, here in the blog, but never open the link in an unsolicited text or email, even if you\u2019re confident about the sender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He Attempted to Log In<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The link took him to a page that looked like his bank\u2019s login, so he obligingly filled in his username and password.  Unfortunately for him, given the outcome, it was probably a bogus site<\/a> set up specifically to harvest those credentials.  When he entered them, he gave the scammers the keys to his bank account.  There\u2019s also a possibility the link may have installed malware on his phone to harvest his credentials, then forwarded him to the real bank\u2019s site.  That part\u2019s unclear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Asked Him to Sign Into His Apple ID<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Up to this point, Cohen was under the impression that everything was legitimate, but then the site asked him for his Apple ID as well.  That was when the penny dropped, and he realized that he was dealing with scammers.  So he closed the tab, and assumed that he had nipped a potential scam in the bud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unsplash<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Did the Scammers Ask for His Apple ID? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After we spoke of scammers earlier as practiced professionals, you may wonder why they\u2019d do something as clumsy, at this point, as asking for their target\u2019s Apple ID.  Cohen recognized at this point that it was a scam, so wasn\u2019t that a slip-up on their part? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not necessarily.  Remember, though Andy didn\u2019t realize it at this point, they\u2019d already gotten the login credentials for his bank account.  Anything else they can get at this point is pure gravy, so why not try? An Apple ID is a very useful thing, if you can get it, because it gives the scammers access to the payment methods you\u2019ve got saved in Apple Pay, your iCloud backups, your photos, and much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of victims at this point are already mentally slotted into that \u201cgotta fix my account\u201d groove, and will give up their Apple ID unthinkingly.  In this particular instance, it was a win-win proposition for the scammers because their success with the phishing attack triggered a second, damaging phase of the scam.  This is relatively uncommon, and that\u2019s what makes Cohen\u2019s story so interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Telephone Scam Built on the Phishing Scam\u2019s Success <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Instead of taking their winnings from the phishing scam and moving on, Cohen\u2019s scammers leveraged their successful phishing attack to follow up with a phone scam<\/a>. The next day, he received a text claiming to be from his bank\u2019s fraud alert system, letting him know that someone was trying to use his debit card for a purchase and asking if it was him.  When he responds with a \u201cNo,\u201d his phone rings and the Caller ID shows that the incoming call is from his bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not his bank, of course, but the scammers.  This is why they could afford to risk alerting potential victims by asking for their Apple ID:  anyone who spotted it as a scam will, like Cohen, be predisposed to believe the incoming call from the bogus \u201cfraud prevention department.\u201d  They\u2019re actually leveraging the success of their previous scam in order to improve the odds for their follow-up.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how the rest of the scam went down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scammers Sounded Legitimately Knowledgeable and Professional<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The caller walked Andy through several previous transactions on his account, just as a legitimate bank employee would.  It gave the call a strong air of legitimacy, because at this point he still didn\u2019t realize that he\u2019d given the scammers access to his bank account the night before.  They knew stuff only his bank should know, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also \u2013 and here we come back to professionalism \u2013 the woman on the other end of the phone was the very ideal of a dedicated, empathetic customer service rep during the whole hour they spent on the phone.  At one point, as he explained about the phishing email the night before, the caller told him flatly (as a real bank employee would) \u201cWe would never<\/em> ask for your Apple ID.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhoever you are,\u201d Cohen said, looking straight at the camera, \u201cI hate you, but you\u2019re very good at your job.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Asked Him to Read Back Codes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At this point, after building that comfortable client relationship with Cohen, the service rep told him she was going to send him three codes, and that she\u2019d get him to read them back to her.  This should have been a bright red flag, but, because this very<\/em> helpful service rep had already put in so much time with him, he did as he was asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What really happened at this point is that the scammers had sent themselves three large wire transfers from Cohen\u2019s account, and the codes \u2013 which legitimately came from his bank \u2013 were confirmation codes to authorize the transfers.  With his help, the scammers had now bypassed the bank\u2019s security measure for transfers involving large amounts of money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Asked Him to Input Codes on His Phone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a final deft touch, the caller told him she\u2019d give him a few numbers to enter into his phone.  When he did, he saw a brief message (which, to give him credit, he had the presence of mind to screenshot) saying that he\u2019d set up call forwarding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aftermath of the Scam<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

About 30 minutes after that call, second-guessing the whole scenario now that he\u2019d had time to think about it, Cohen reached out directly to his bank\u2019s real fraud prevention department and left a message.  The message said he\u2019d get a call back within 30 minutes, but it never came.  Why not? Because he\u2019d set up call forwarding on his phone, and any phone calls, text alerts, or authentication messages from his bank were going directly to the scammers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until the next day, when he was able to go to his bank in person, that he fully understood how thoroughly and professionally he\u2019d been taken by the scammers.  It\u2019s very difficult to retrieve any money you\u2019ve lost in the form of a wire transfer (that\u2019s why criminals favor it), but the case is currently being investigated by the NYPD\u2019s Cyber Security Unit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of writing only a few days have elapsed since the incident took place, and it remains to be seen whether Cohen will ever recover his money, or the criminals will be brought to justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons to Learn from Andy Cohen\u2019s Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So what lessons can we draw from Cohen\u2019s unfortunate experience? A few spring to mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n