ORLANDO, Fla. – Connie Cruz, a retired Orlando-area resident, is the first to report a double imposter scheme that combined an email alert from the Social Security Administration and a phone conversation with a DEA agent investigating her connection to drugs and money laundering.
“I was shocked because, how could my name be linked to drug trafficking?” a visibly shaken Cruz told News 6. “She said if I don’t cooperate, then I can get arrested.”
Cruz called the number provided in the fake social security email and the person who answered the call ”transferred” her to the DEA.
The woman on the phone claimed to be DEA Administrator Karen Tandy. The imposter even sent a photo and badge number to “prove” the call was legitimate.
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Of course, Tandy retired from her DEA position 17 years ago and a voice comparison by News 6 confirmed Tandy was not the woman in the recorded conversations.
Still, the scheme was convincing.
The imposters claimed her name was on packages of drugs and cash delivered to several locations across the country.
The Social Security Administration email claimed Cruz’s account would be “temporarily suspended” until the case was sorted out.
That hit home.
“Oh my God, that’s where I get my daily living, you know?” Cruz said, “My food, the bills, everything.”
News 6 contacted the DEA’s Washington office and provided a recording of our story.
The agency confirmed it had nothing to do with the calls to Connie Cruz.
The DEA wrote, in part, that it “will only notify people of a legitimate investigation or legal action in person or by official letter.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, about 1 in 5 people lost money to imposter scams last year.
In this case, Cruz did not fall for the scam.
She called News 6 a few weeks later and confirmed her social security check was deposited in her account without issue.
Anyone receiving a call from a person claiming to be with DEA should report the incident to the FBI at www.ic3.gov. The Federal Trade Commission provides recovery steps, shares information with more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies and takes reports at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
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