By now we’ve all heard the warnings: don’t give personal information to alleged customer service agents who call to warn of suspicious account activity. Don’t click on email links from unfamiliar addresses or provide them social security or bank account information. And above all, don’t wire, mail or give money to unfamiliar people or causes. So why are so many of us still falling for scams?

According to one survey, 68.4 million of us lost money to phone scams in 2022. Among those who recently fell victim is respected financial columnist Charlotte Cowles who writes for New York Magazine’s “The Cut.” Last fall, Cowles put $50,000 in cash into a shoe box and handed it through a car window to a man she’d never met.

Host Robin Young talks to Cowles about her ordeal, how scams play out and how to avoid them.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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