CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman said he was nearly fooled by a highly sophisticated bank impersonation phone scam—but he caught it before losing his money.
In a video posted on his X account on July 10, Gutman revealed that he came close to emptying his entire account after receiving a call from someone claiming to be from a “fraud protection” department at his bank.
The caller provided a name and badge ID and appeared to know personal details about Gutman and his accounts, making the call actually seem credible. The scammer also seemed well-versed and spoke with professionalism, according to the journalist.
“They seemed to know so much about me, about my bank account,” Gutman said. “And then they said, ‘Listen, we suspect that there is significant fraud activity at the bank branch where you bank, and what we need you to do right now...’
Gutman, 48, also revealed there had been some recent suspicious activity in his daughter’s bank account.
Gutman was told by the scammer that two fraudsters were at his local branch bank and that the caller even provided aliases for them. He was then advised him to go to his bank, withdraw the funds from his account in cash, and take the money with him so the supposed criminals could be caught, a tactic common among criminals. The strategy involves convincing the victim to turn their own money into physical cash that can be stolen from them.
Gutman pointed out that the most dangerous part of the scam was that he would have been targeted at the location known to the scammer and probably would have been robbed there.
He realized that something was wrong when the caller warned him not to tell bank employees what was happening because they might actually be involved, which Gutman said was a major red flag.
Gutman did not provide further details about how the rest of the situation played out, but he credited the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and his Bank of America branch for helping him avoid becoming a victim of the highly sophisticated scam.
The award-winning journalist and author said he hopes his personal story should serve as a warning to everyone.
“Beware, these people are out there. And they are good,” he said.
Gutman said he wasn’t as “savvy” as he thought he was, despite investigating and covering fraud stories for a living.
“I’m a journalist and have done scam stories so many times in my career and I came so close to falling for it,” he said.