Andy Cohen Shares Experience with Credit Card Scam on Today Show

Who knew that even famous people could fall for scams? Especially, since they typically pay people good money to keep up with their money matters. Recently, Andy Cohen fell victim to a very elaborate credit card scam. The host shared his story on The Today Show about how his bank account was hacked through an imposter scam.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, imposter scams happen when a scammer impersonates someone else, like a government or bank employee, to steal a victim’s money or personal information. Impersonator fraud has been the most reported scam for years, according to the FTC. Additionally, they said more than 600,000 cases were reported in the U.S. in 2023. These cases amounted to more than $2 billion lost.

Cohen explained on The Today Show that the scam started right after he lost his debit card. The next day, he got an email that seemed to be from his bank's fraud alert. Clicking the link in the email gave scammers access to his account. They then asked him to sign into his Apple ID, which raised suspicions for him.

The following day, he received a text and a call, both seemingly from his bank, inquiring about card usage. After denying any involvement, he was sent "codes" that turned out to be wire transfers from his account. Following their instructions, he unknowingly activated caller forwarding on his phone, allowing calls to be redirected to the scammers.

Realizing the issue, Cohen visited his bank. He found that a significant amount of money had been wired out of his account. He did not disclose the specific amount lost on the show.

Back in 2020, Barbara Corcoran, founder of real estate brokerage firm Corcoran Group and judge on ABC’s Shark Tank, almost fell victim to an email scam that would have cost her $400,000.

CNBC reported that scammers tricked Corcoran's bookkeeper by pretending to be her assistant in an email, claiming approval for an invoice related to a fake investment property in Europe. However, Corcoran's assistant hadn't actually sent the email, and the mentioned property didn't exist.

Corcoran discovered the scam when her assistant received an email from the bookkeeper about a wire transfer. The scammers had created a fake email for the assistant by changing one letter in her name. Corcoran and her team realized the deception when the bookkeeper used the real email address to include the assistant in the conversation.

Although the scammers had already taken money from Corcoran's account, her New York bank froze the funds before reaching them in China, allowing her to recover all the money.

Take a look at the FTC’s tips on how to avoid scammers, from romance scams and business impersonators to government impersonators here.

You might think your favorite password is really easy to remember. But if it's too easy, chances are it's not very secure. Mobile security firm Lookout recently published a tally of the 20 most commonly found passwords in leaked account information on the dark web. As you would expect, many of the passwords are a variation of "12345," while others are as simple as "Iloveyou." With passwords like that, you're putting yourself at risk to get hacked.

We get it: you want a password that is easy to recall. According to NordPass, the average person has more than 100 different online accounts that utilize passwords. It's hard to remember all of those. But, make sure those passwords aren't too easy to hack.

One idea is keeping an old-fashioned notebook - yeah, that thing with paper wound into a binder - with all of your passwords in a secure place. And, switch up the characters, using numbers, letters and symbols.

The list is via mobile security firm Lookout.

This is literally the easiest password ever. Do people really use this?

Taking the easiest password and adding a few more digits..as if that makes it any more difficult to figure out!

This one caught me by surprise. Why is this such a popular password choice?

You have to be kidding me.

Another super easy one.

Notice how so many of these are just variations of 12345?

I can't imagine anyone using this as their password, but it's apparently very popular.

Another variation of 12345.

At least this one switches up the number order a little. But still!

Now we're getting complicated. Not, really.

This actually doesn't look like a super easy password to me, but it's obviously based off the keyboard, so I can see why it's easy to crack.

One more based on 12345.

LOL.

You cannot be serious. Don't most password systems prevent a password like this, anyway?

Are we in grade school?

Descending.

Another super easy one.

Probably the most complicated on on here.

Very sweet- but not a good password.

All you kids who think it's cool to use "666" for anything won't think it's too cool when you get hacked!