I went out to get coffee and found out I was being investigated by the FBI

When I left my office to get coffee one day last week, I didn’t expect to return with the knowledge that, due to suspicious activity, I was being investigated by the FBI.

I don’t typically answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize, but the call I got last Tuesday morning reminded me of recent advice I had received: “You never know what will turn into a good story!”

And so, with the vigor only a young and naive journalist could have, I answered.

A man with a thick accent immediately asked for Kiana Cole. “This is she,” I replied, half listening and half grumbling at the long line in front of me, contemplating if it was worth paying for coffee tainted by skim.

“I’m with the Greensboro FBI, calling to tell you that you are being investigated.”

I awkwardly shuffled forward in line, forgetting all things milk related as I tried to understand what was happening. As he said words like “suspicious activity” and “need your information,” I thought words like prank and scheme and WHAT?

As any responsible adult seeking answers would do, I panicked and hung up.

I absentmindedly ordered a drink I didn’t even want, only to be interrupted from my haze of horror when the barista asked, “Would you like whole milk or almond milk?” I’M (PROBABLY) GOING TO JAIL AND YOU’RE ASKING ME ABOUT MILK, I thought in terror.

I can’t remember if I answered her. I was too busy trying to mentally investigate myself — what was it that did me in? I jaywalked the day before. Was I living a life of crime?

“They would have used a fake number to call and scam you,” a friend assured me. But the number actually went to the Greensboro FBI office. I called it back — it really was them.

I’m all about a good prank, but this seemed unreasonably unfair and manipulative. It was more developed than the typical Nigerian-prince-in-the-midst-of-civil-war-asking-to-fund-his-daughter’s-passage-to-America email scheme.

This would be a trick I’d warn my grandma about, not something I’d fall for.

So it had to be true.

I trekked back to the office, announcing to my coworkers this was most likely the last time anyone would see me not in orange. Thankfully, I was in a room full of reporters who weren’t satisfied with my soliloquies and had questions. They were convinced it was a trick.

I agreed, though I couldn’t understand how the man called from the FBI’s actual number and, if people like me were being scammed, why the FBI hasn’t stopped it.

I decided to call Charlotte’s FBI office to get to the bottom of this. I spoke with Shelly Lynch, the public affairs specialist, who comforted me out of my confusion.

When I described the call, she said it sounded like a scheme.

She explained that they’ve been hearing about these phone calls since October. What makes them difficult, she said, is that the story changes constantly — sometimes the schemers say you own student loan money, or tax money, or they talk about suspicious activity.

They alter their story once enough people complain online about a specific conversation, and use fear tactics like intimidation and threats, which only continues to confuse people as the scam starts to sound more and more legitimate.

When people are convinced, Lynch said the schemers ask for money through MoneyGram, a money transferring website. She said, fortunately, she hasn’t heard from anyone that believed the trick and actually paid the money.

“The FBI isn’t going to call you and ask for money,” she added.

I told her I sincerely hope that I didn’t hang up on an actual FBI agent. Lynch assured me that if the FBI wanted me to know I was being investigated, I’d know.

I asked her why the FBI hasn’t stopped these schemes. She explained the callers are incredibly difficult to track, often times located overseas and sending signals from many different places.

If you’ve also been on the other end of one of these calls, she said the best way to help is to report it is on their website.

If this happens to you, Lynch suggests you press the caller with questions, like who they work for and other contacts. They won’t know the answers.

I advise that, even if you waste 34 seconds you won’t get back on a fabricated phone call, you shouldn’t hang up early. It’ll make a good story.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 12:29 AM with the headline "I went out to get coffee and found out I was being investigated by the FBI."