Say a bank customer, an older woman, comes into her local branch and wants to wire a couple thousand dollars to Canada. A grandson was caught on some minor infraction there, put in jail and needs bail money, she says. He’s too embarrassed to ask his parents, so he went to grandma for help.
Sound shady? Well, it is. But it has happened at Bristol County Savings Bank (BCSB). A couple times, in fact.
The scheme is common among fraudsters looking to dupe the elderly into wiring money across borders, where it will likely never be recovered. Julie Chapman, senior vice president at BCSB, said tellers have twice smelled something fishy in this story, and for good reason.
The customers were absolutely convinced it was their grandson on the other end of the line, Chapman said; bank employees had to persuade their clients it was just a phone call from a stranger addressing them as “Grandma,” and spinning convincing lies.
The scam is indicative of just how easy it can be to fall victim to such simple frauds, experts say, and banks like BCSB are well-placed to prevent financial exploitation of older customers. As the nation ages, and a painfully slow economic recovery keeps budgets tight, these schemes are likely to keep coming – and do ever more damage.
Bristol recently hosted seven other banks at an educational session on the subject, part of a long-term government effort to prevent financial exploitation. Now in its 15th year, the Massachusetts Bank Reporting Project trains bankers what to look for and how to report abuse. Just as EMTs are first responders in a physical emergency, bankers represent the front line in preventing fraud and exploitation, said Jonathan Fielding, a Massachusetts Protective Services regional manager.
“Our first responders are where the money is, and that’s the bank,” Fielding told Banker & Tradesman. About 100-200 bankers report abuses every year, he estimated, but prior to 1996 very few banks called in to voice their suspicions at all.
‘The Full Gamut’
Chapman said she believes fraud of all types has gotten worse since the onset of the financial crisis several years ago, with more people making their living off various types of scams.
“We’ve seen the full gamut [of frauds],” she said. “People who are desperate take desperate measures.”
Tellers are trained to ask questions when somebody comes in with an unusual wire or money order request, Chapman said. Mostly it’s all above board, but the bank does catch suspicious activity from time to time.
Kevin Kiley, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association (MBA) – which works with government organizations to hold educational sessions on the topic – said the MBA puts on about eight to 12 fraud sessions per year.
The program has been ongoing for years, but the scams stay pretty consistent, and bankers are typically warned by the unusual behavior of their longtime patrons. An elderly customer suddenly taking out a big withdrawal, for example, is a huge tip-off that something isn’t right, he said – either because a stranger is running a scam, or a family member is simply exploiting an older relative. In any case, banks are trained to ask questions and properly report any incidents.
The phone-call-from-jail scam is a common one, said Fielding, but older customers also fall prey to mailings that offer them a check in exchange for a “mystery shopper” job, or a knock on their door from someone offering to do home repairs – for cash, paid upfront.
But bankers also are well-suited to notice if a customer starts appearing disheveled or confused, an indication that the person is simply in a declining state of mental health.
Chapman said bank employees are trained to help as much as possible: “The fraudsters are getting smarter too, so we really have to stay on our toes.”
