Al Roker can now add the “jackhole of the day” award to his career honors.
Andy Cohen awarded the title to the meteorologist on Wednesday night’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live” Hours after the Bravo host appeared on the “Today” show to talk about his recent experience with impostor fraud.
Like Cohen's “Today” segment With hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb coming to an end, Roker weighed in with a facetious accusation: that a member of the “Real Housewives” franchise could be behind the fraud scheme.
“Well, chances are there is someone,” the “Real Housewives” producer responded, leaving out any details.
“Al, how could you? That was basically the 'Today' show version,” Cohen said on his show later that night, standing in line for a shorten from an episode of “Real Housewives of Miami” in which cast member Marysol Patton’s friend asks, “Who here do you trust the least?”
While Cohen's criticism of Roker was in jest, Cohen stated on “Today” that the impostor fraud is not a joke.
“This is serious and I really don't want it to happen to anyone, so I want to talk to you about it,” he told Guthrie and Kotb.
It started with an email.
Cohen had lost his debit card the day before and reported it lost, so he opened the email assuming the two were related. If he had only checked the sender's email address, he said, he would have seen that it did not include the name of his bank.
The email, which looked like a fraud alert, directed him to what was apparently his bank's login page. It wasn't until he was asked to enter his Apple ID that he became aware of a possible scam. But by then, the scammer already had access to his accounts.
The next day, he received a text message “Is that you?” where she was notified that someone was trying to use her credit card at a Walmart in Minneapolis.
Panicked, he responded “no.” Then her phone rang.
The caller ID identified the call as coming from his bank, so he answered. A woman's voice on the other end of the line told him that she had contacted him because of a fraud alert and that she would like to discuss the charges with him. By answering the phone and transmitting the codes sent by his bank, Cohen unknowingly approved several wire transfers to the scammer, who convinced him of his legitimacy by assuring him that the bank would never have asked for his Apple ID.
“She seemed like my defender,” he said, which is why he also believed him when he said a pop-up message he didn't understand was harmless. In reality, it was a notification that his bank's calls were being diverted to the scammer.
“Whoever you are, I hate you, but you are very good at your job,” Cohen said on “Today.”
The scammer then asked if he would like to prosecute the person who made the unauthorized charges, to which he agreed. She said she would call him 30 minutes later, but she never did.
The next day, Cohen went to his bank, where he learned what had happened and was told, “When money is transferred from your account, it disappears.” Still, he filed a report with the NYPD's cybersecurity unit and it is still an active case.
While Cohen said he's not proud of what happened, he said he believes it's important to make people aware of the pervasiveness of imposter fraud and teach them how to protect themselves.
“I consider myself an intelligent and functional member of society. … I always warn my parents: 'Mom and dad, be careful. If someone calls, don't give any information,'” she said. “But it happened to me here and I don't want it to happen to anyone else.”
“You're not falling for the easy scam, but they were very sophisticated,” Guthrie said.
To avoid falling victim to such a scam, the hosts and Cohen advised viewers to always check senders' email addresses and never respond to a phone call, text message or email without first checking with their bank, especially when Scammers often manipulate their victims with messages such as, “You have to act now.”
“Don't get caught up in the urgent moment,” Cohen said. “Nothing needs to happen 'now'.”
“Don't trust anyone who calls you. Say 'I'll call you back,'” she continued. “Even better, go to your bank yourself.”
Nationwide, imposter scams are the most common type of fraud, with more than 600,000 cases reported in 2023, costing Americans $2 billion, according to Federal Trade Commission data through the third quarter.
