Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.
In 2025, victims lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams (1). Now, CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman nearly became a victim of one of those scams.
"I just got SCAMMED," Matt Gutman posted in a video on X on July 10 (2).
Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one
JPMorgan still sees gold hitting $5,000/oz by Q4 — and savvy investors are protecting their wealth with a tax-advantaged Gold IRA. Learn more with a free guide from Priority Gold
The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028 — and experts say most people won't act in time. What to do before the window closes
Gutman explained that "fraud protection" at his bank called and told him that people were illegally withdrawing money from his account. Despite thinking of himself as "savvy," Gutman said he nearly fell for the scam, getting as far as going to the local branch and starting the process of withdrawing funds before he thought twice.
Here's what happened to Gutman, how he ultimately realized he was being scammed and some tips from experts on how to avoid these tricks when even the professionals are falling for them.
Gutman's first contact with the scammers was a call from someone with a name, badge ID and insider knowledge of his bank account.
"They said, 'We suspect that there is significant fraud activity at the bank branch where you bank,'" Gutman said on X. The caller told him there were fraudsters at the bank and he had to help catch them by going to his local branch and withdrawing funds in cash to prompt the scammers to act. He was also told he couldn't tell anyone at his bank, as they may be in on it.
Gutman was convinced by the caller's knowledge of his account, plus the fact that there had been recent fraudulent activity on his daughter's account. He visited the bank, went to the teller and started withdrawing his funds.
Fortunately, one thought entered his mind that caused him to realize he'd been scammed and walk away.
He realized, "There is no way that this is possibly real. That anyone would use a regular civilian for a sting operation at a bank." Thankfully, he had this thought before it was too late and was able to walk away with no harm done. However, he said the scary thing was that he found out the scammers do this often and then rob the person who just withdrew the money.
Source: Yahoo Finance Top News — This article was automatically imported from the source. Read full article at original source →
