Scammed financial advice columnist, defenders mocked by critics: Think 'we are all as dumb as they are'
The now viral story of a financial advice columnist falling for a $50,000 Amazon scam has garnered bewilderment and ridicule from social media users over the last week; especially as other outlets came to her defense
Charlotte Cowles, a financial columnist for New York Magazine's The Cut, shared her horror story of being conned out of $50,000 in an elaborate Amazon scheme last week.
"When I’ve told people this story, most of them say the same thing: You don’t seem like the type of person this would happen to. What they mean is that I’m not senile, or hysterical, or a rube. But these stereotypes are actually false," she wrote.
Notable details of the story included speaking to a man she believed to be a CIA agent who convinced her to withdraw as much cash as she could and give it to an undercover agent the following day.
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While stories of financial fraud are common, people had a hard time being sympathetic to Cowles’ story, particularly when her story was titled, "The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoebox and Handed It to a Stranger."
Tech and culture reporter for NBC News, Kat Tenbarge, defended Cowles, saying everyone is capable of falling for a similar scam: "Everyone who reads this thinks they would never fall for a scam like this, but the truth is you would. You just have no idea how you will react when your emotions are toyed with to this level. Everyone is capable of being abused, manipulated, and scammed."
Washington Free Beacon reporter Joe Gabriel Simonson responded to Tenbarge's post, "Under this logic there are conceivably thousands of people handing over their savings every day. Why am i even bothering with these people."
"I have to be honest I don’t think I would take $50,000 out of the bank, put it in a shoebox, and hand it through the window of a car to an ‘undercover CIA agent’ I’d never met," Bloom Institute of Technology CEO Austen Allred wrote.
The Washington Post shared an article about Cowles' story on X, warning followers about making fun of the financial columnist when their loved ones could fall for a "less dramatic scam." "Today, you might be making fun of the financial-advice writer who went viral for putting $50,000 in cash in a box and handing it to a stranger. Tomorrow, you or someone you love could be falling for a less dramatic scam," The Post tweeted.
"This was on Saturday. Let me check...Nope! Still haven't put all my money in a shoebox and tossed it into a waiting car because the CIA told me to," Substack writer Jim Treacher responded.
"Less dramatic scams are exponentially easier to fall for," conservative commentator Noam Blum said.
The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller joked, "Well no. I will simply tell them not to answer phone calls from numbers they don't recognize."
"Journalists really seem to believe that everyone in the world has the same bizarre blind spots as they do, maybe more than any profession," Washington Free Beacon reporter Drew Holden wrote.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson summarized, "The media elite are pretty insistent that we are all as dumb as they are. Really, the last eight years have been absolutely discrediting for the media and intellectual elite and its no wonder people now believe a lot of stupid stuff."
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On Monday, Cowles went on CNN to defend her story despite admitting that her radar "went off" throughout the scam.
"It is deeply embarrassing," Cowles told CNN. "I wanted to tell this story because there really is no stereotypical scam victim. And I know this from my own personal experience, obviously, but also the hundreds of emails that I've received from other people since the story came out. Other financial professionals, they're doctors, they're lawyers, they're government employees, there are people of all walks of life who this happens to and this is also backed up by data and research that's done on scam victims. There really is no one type of person who's vulnerable."
"The Five" hosts also weighed in on the story Monday by criticizing the columnist.
Co-host Dana Perrino said Cowles "has no street smarts" despite her experience as a financial columnist. Greg Gutfeld joked that her story had "more red flags here than a Chinese parade.