CBS news anchor nearly loses life savings in LA scam

A phone scam was so convincing that even veteran CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman admits he nearly walked into his bank and emptied his account before realizing something was terribly wrong.In a video shared Friday on his X account, Gutman recounted receiving a call from someone claiming to work in his bank’s “fraud protection” department.The caller introduced herself by name, provided a badge ID, and appeared to have detailed knowledge of his personal banking information.“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–.’ We went through all the accounts, and we actually had some suspicious activity recently in my daughter’s account.”The conversation took a more alarming turn when the caller outlined what she claimed was a plan to catch the criminals.“She gave me the names and then she said, ‘What we need you to do, in order to intercept these fraudsters, is to go into the bank and withdraw everything from your bank account’ — which wasn’t that much money at this point — ‘and take it with you so you have it in cash and that’ll trigger the fraudsters into action.

That’s how we’ll be able to catch them.’ I thought, OK, that’s a little weird.” California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.Please provide a valid email.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story “Why would you use a regular citizen for something that seems like a law enforcement issue? But I said, you know, OK, and I went in there and she said, ‘But you can’t tell anybody at the bank that this is happening because they might be in on it,’” he continued.That final instruction set off alarm bells.Gutman said the demand to keep bank e...