JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other US financial giants reportedly failed to stop a scam that wiped out an 85-year-old woman’s life savings.
Annette Manes, a widowed social worker, is a victim of a scheme that drained $1.4 million over the course of 279 days, reports Bloomberg.
Manes says the scammers, who pretended to work for JPMorgan and the US government, told her to go “undercover” as a victim and make it appear that she was getting fleeced. The scammers convinced her that the operation would flush out a rogue staffer and bad actors who were targeting elderly people.
She immediately went to a JPMorgan branch and withdrew $169,000 from her account in just one week. When her account went dry, she sold some holdings at Vanguard and deposited more funds at the bank.
In total, she delivered $730,000 from her JPMorgan account to the criminals.
When her relationship with Chase soured over concerns about her frequent withdrawals and transactions, she opened an account with Bank of America and then Wells Fargo, continuing to make massive withdrawals until those accounts were also eventually shuttered.
The banks are now taking heat for failing to contact law enforcement once throughout the ordeal.
Manes also authorized the scammers to open credit cards in her name at Citibank and Capital One, running up six-figure debt. She also opened bank accounts with M&T Bank and Hudson Valley Credit Union, but both rapidly flagged her transactions and ultimately closed the accounts after brief periods of activity.
The scam only came to light when Manes’ son was contacted by adult protective services, ending the nine-month ordeal.
Chase says its branch staff did question Annette about her transactions, but she was always calm and insistent.
Both Chase and Wells Fargo say they reached out to adult protective services over concerns they had about Manes.
The FBI says crimes targeting the elderly have increased 255% over the last three years, with $3.4 billion stolen in that time frame. These types of crimes have surged 255% in the last year alone.
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