Protect the seniors!

I hate scammers!

My wife is in banking and today another senior came in needing money for a scammer.
This guy told her “there’s a bond out for your arrest.. but don’t panic.. for just $15k you can make it go away”
So she comes in with the guy still on the phone requesting 15 thousand dollars in cash and got pissed when the tellers pumped the breaks.
Apparently after getting her money she would be instructed to got to a bitcoin machine or a western union kiosk. 🙄

This is the second time in the last couple months that a senior was in the middle of a scam. The other wasn’t for as much money but still a scam. I don’t remember what that particular one entailed.

My wife’s financial institution is being sued right now after a guy insisted that the 60k he was investing in bitcoin was a legit broker even after being questioned several times if they were sure. Somehow he claims that the bank didn’t do their due diligence 🤷‍♂️
The lawyers says it’s not going anywhere but it’s still a pain.

Damn the seniors in country are a huge target right now.. talk to the ones in you life and warn them about this kind of thing.

Rant over..🍺

Quite a few senior citizens I know were victims of scams over the last six years. One was even an ex state policeman. This new society we have created is not any good, we need to go back thirty years and get rid of all the technology we created that allows criminals to steal from far away. I remember when you used to have to show an ID to use a credit card or get money from a bank account at your local bank unless the teller personally knew you. Now they don't even check your ID unless you take out over five hundred bucks at the drive through.

I think the feds are setting it up so everyone gets poor and wonder if there is some organized government group that is trying to get all people's real cash. The local police can do nothing and the FBI just says it is probably someone out of the country even though someone came into a local business and cashed a fake check or used a credit number and loaded a truck at the lumber yard with materials. They just chuckled when I called for an old friend who got scammed...they even changed his phone number to a new number saying he is under investigation. It was all scam. They claimed to be with the IRS. They got his account number of his checking acct because they said he needed to send a check made out to the IRS from his checking acct....they got his numbers and were able to get access to his money.

I have little faith that the FBI will help any citizen unless they are politicians or relatives of politicians...lately, only Democrat politicians.

We are on our own guys, the locals cannot help if there is even a hint of being out of their jurisdiction and same with the state boys. Heck, cops in Florida got scammed, they contacted the Feds and they told them they could not investigate and the Feds did nothing...so they found these guys right in Florida and arrested them against authorization from the Feds. I do not know what happened, did the Feds go after the Florida police department? never heard more about that.

I recommend no seniors use any digital banking. However, if one must use, preferably use a browser vs an app due to different permissions involved and security encryption matters.

My phone is a flip phone, I probably have it on me less than 50% of the time and it has no apps. It is just a phone. if one's entire life and finances can be in jeopardy by losing a simple gadget, than as a smart human one is doing something terribly wrong. A gadget should just be a gadget, not a remotely accessible storage device for all of your financial accounts and identity information.

people only need to stop volunteering their personal data everywhere they go for rewards points or dollar discounts at fast food chains. If you do not disclose data, data will not be stolen. One must become a walking void where no data is generate. No location data pinging on your phone, no personal information stored in a dozen apps. No phone numbers at point of sale. No email for promotions and discounts. Just buy your stuff, preferably with cash, and go on with your life. It is easy, humans have only been doing it for like ten thousand or more years.

I can’t count the amount of emails I get fishing for my crypto account information. They either claim I sent crypto to someone, usually crypto I don’t even hold, or links to verify my account information. Some of these emails look legitimate, but I know to always use the actual crypto brokerage account and never an email link.
They usually say something along the line of “You sent 25.32 ETH to yada yada. If this is in error use the link to contact a representative”. I report them as spam but they have so many email addresses it’s useless. The give away is where the email is from, which is usually something Spanish.
I’ve only seen one that looked scary legit, but again it was about a crypto I wasn’t holding at the time.
It must work on some people or else they would not bother.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
My phone is a flip phone, I probably have it on me less than 50% of the time and it has no apps. It is just a phone. if one's entire life and finances can be in jeopardy by losing a simple gadget, than as a smart human one is doing something terribly wrong. A gadget should just be a gadget, not a remotely accessible storage device for all of your financial accounts and identity information.

people only need to stop volunteering their personal data everywhere they go for rewards points or dollar discounts at fast food chains. If you do not disclose data, data will not be stolen. One must become a walking void where no data is generate. No location data pinging on your phone, no personal information stored in a dozen apps. No phone numbers at point of sale. No email for promotions and discounts. Just buy your stuff, preferably with cash, and go on with your life. It is easy, humans have only been doing it for like ten thousand or more years.

This here!!!

Will work only for us old farts who know the time before internet, spyPhones and doing everything online. I only pay cash everywhere but i live in Germany and it is the norm here. For Amazon, a must nowadays because unfortunately, you now have to rely on Amazon because you get ripped off with prices in retail stores while they tell you anyway: “We don't have it in stock, we have to order it”. Then I prefer to order directly myself, it's quicker, cheaper and I can save myself the trip to the store and do better things in the meantime. So for Amazon i buy those gift cards with cash, they go up to 500 Euros and i can buy as many as i want.

I use a VPN, i don´t know how many ad-blockers, cookie killers and a lot of software to make it not too easy to spy on me and bomb me with ads. I am pretty sure all that doesn´t really help if someone wants really to spy on you but i want to make it harder for all those big tech businesses to spy on me and sell my data to whomever. I don´t even feel to well using only a simple cell phone instead of a spyPhone because they can locate your cell phone but not as precise as a SpyPhone that is constantly connected to the internet and sending data 24/7.

E-Mail? I only use it when I have to register an account and never look in there because nothing important can come in there as I don't do anything important over the internet and i know exactly zero people who use e-mail to write letters or send pictures or videos or whatever. I would never in my life put my bank account details or anything like that on the internet only because, for example, it's more convenient than buying gift vouchers with cash in the store.

When i search for myself in the web i find exactly - nothing. Because from the very first steps in the internet i was very careful to hide my identity as good as possible. Not because i am a professional pirate or criminal or terrorist but because my personal data belongs to me and i want to decide what happens to it. I don´t want anybody to sell my personal data and make lots of money and turn me into a glass person by that.

In my whole life i never even paid with card, only cash. But it's really no problem in Germany not to use all these "great new achievements which make life only better", not to own a spyPhone and to pay for everything with cash everywhere, these are the advantages of a developing country when it comes to mobile and internet coverage and speed. In many jobs they want you to have WhatsApp for the work on your phone. Best thing to tell them is that they are free to gift me a spyPhone, contract included and WhatsApp installed, which would only be switched on during working hours anyway. And that i have a phone number and that they can call me but only if something really important happens. You get zero calls by that because they are too afraid nowadays to talk to people on a phone and all that BS they send you on WhatsApp is not important enough to call people, not important at all. They want to pretend you have a community, a family at your workplace that doesn't exist and bother you with work stuff outside your working hours. But without me!

And it is no problem. There are still phones around, there is still cash and it still is the norm, there's still a post office and official stuff is best done this way anyway. At least here in Germany growing up with the knowledge that, above all, the person in charge does not need to know everything, has a lot to do with Hitler's Germany and the former GDR, this, in my opinion, extremely sensible attitude. I always feel sorry for people in other countries who are forced to put up with all this dystopian sh!t, where you can't even give a beggar some change anymore and you can't do anything without a spyPhone plus internet, neither shopping in a store nor taking even the bus, a taxi or whatever. These people are completely naked to anyone who has a bit knowledge of how to search the web or who has the money to pay people for that job.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I worked in banking (left in 2017) and there was so much elder fraud! I'm in Florida and the fraud he is unreal. Our branch manager though was really good at catching it and watching the elderly that came in esp if they had someone with them we had never seen. It was also a sad reality that many of their own caretakers are ones we caught stealing from them the most! One stole another clients cell phone in front of her, it was caught on camera and she stole from the lady she was paid to take care of as well.

It is sad and horrible how much fraud is out there and they prey on the elderly!

a reply to: Bluntone22

This stuff makes me so mad. They need to have PSA commercials and things like "if someone text messages or calls you claiming to be the IRS, Court, law enforcement or any other official entity or utility service demanding money or personal information like bank account or social security numbers HANG UP! DO NOT RESPOND! IT IS LIKELY A SCAM!" And there should be a number like 211 maybe where people could call and find out, hey the cops just called me and said I have a warrant but for 15k in bitcoin they'll make it go away. Is this legit? And they could find out and maybe even help their friends too if they hear them talking about something similar.

It shouldn't be the bank's fault thought they do try to dissuade people from sending money to scammers but sometimes people are so headstrong and know they're "right" or they've got dollar signs floating around in their head and send the money anyways, end up getting screwed and then need to blame somebody for their own screw up. THESE ARE NOT ELDERLY PEOPLE! THE ELDERLY PEOPLE GETTING SCAMMED ARE ALWAYS JUST CONFUSED AND SCARED SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN IF THEY DON'T COMPLY.

a reply to: Shoshanna

I feel like if a bank person feels sincerely that an elder is in about a scam likely, they should probably get a supervisor to call the non-emergency line of the local sheriff's office and have a deputy show up to speak to the senior about verifying scammers or something. Like a welfare check, but then we get accusations of overreach and private banks not minding their own business. It can be really difficult to find that balance.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

You are exactly right.
When someone asks to withdraw a large sum of cash, the tellers are instructed to inquire about the use for the money.. not to directly ask but to be subtle. Doing some remodeling? Etc.. sometimes the people get a bit pissy about being questioned. They don’t understand it’s for their protection like ransom, drug deals, human trafficking.

But.. if you don’t ask, it’s the bank’s fault for not protecting them.

You can’t win.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Really though....if I go in an want $10K....I don't see how it is the bank's duty to NOT give me my money.
It's may be cruel.
But isn't it supposed to be Buyer Beware???

I use both a bank and a credit union for my banking. I'm a senior.

Last week I received a call and an email from the credit union that they had intercepted a suspected fraud transaction and had blocked it. I verified that is was actually the bank and not scam by closing with the bank call and calling their fraud number directly.

We went through my recent transactions and determined the one that was suspected fraud. The lady said that this scam was happening frequently and they had it flagged.

The lady cancelled that debit card and sent me a new one via FedEx the next business day. She offered several way for me to get cash before that new card came but I declined since that wasn't my only bank account.

Very good service. We need more banks as good as that one!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

The last time I was in a bank asking for large amounts of money, I was actually coming in with 15k in 20's I had collected over covid years pulling the max daily amount from an ATM a few times a week.

All I was trying to do was swap it out for 100's so I could go purchase a truck in a private sale, cash payment.

Instead, I had to deposit the money- fill out paperwork explaining WHY I was depositing that much cash, and then withdraw it- and fill out more paperwork. The no doubt reported me to the government and then raised my taxes for the favor.

But an elderly person can come in on the phone being held hostage by some scammer sitting in India and be allowed to go through with it?


At that point I'd say those elderly need a new service- someone to manage their finances for them.... and the government needs to get out of my business

a reply to: lordcomac

Banks are required to report suspicious activity.
The amount isn’t really that important.
most bank and credit unions won’t have large amounts of cash available to had out. Usually anything over a couple thousand can/will require 24hrs notice.
They didn’t raise your taxes either.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Bluntone22

Really though....if I go in an want $10K....I don't see how it is the bank's duty to NOT give me my money.
It's may be cruel.
But isn't it supposed to be Buyer Beware???

It’s all about crime. Money laundering, drugs, human trafficking.
All of those use large amounts of cash.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I don't see the average senior citizen getting a large amount of cash for those illegal purposes.
Sounds like you're considered guilty before any crime has happened.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Since when has the government ever cared if you liked it?
Tellers are trained to look for unusual activity. If you come in every few months and deposit or withdraw large sums they wouldn’t think much about it because it’s normal.
But if it’s a first time occurrence an eyebrow gets raised. Not only for the possibility of a crime like I mentioned above but for things like hostage situations. Grandma is getting cash because grandpa is in the car with a gun in his back.

Is it rare?
Not as rare as you might think.
My wife gets fraud training all the time.
She’s told what to look for and what questions to ask. Not to inconvenience you but to protect you.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Still makes me feel less than warm and fuzzy.
Must be the CTer in me

From my perspective, all the more reason to use local banks and credit unions.
Some, I don't think ?Chase and Wells Fargo really care all that much about people.
Now, bad PR and their bottom line.....

I don't like people I don't know asking me questions.

a reply to: Bluntone22
I can withdraw up to $1500 from a BOA ATM as long as the cash is in there. I have only run into one BOA ATM that refused to honor this limit, and I think that just may have been after I received a new card and did not re-update the settings on their website.

A Majority of private ATM's I notice are capped at either $400-$500, with many also capping at $300 . BOA will allow up to whatever amount you choose in the settings on your account in their website (or app if your into personal data on easily accessed and lost devices) . I just capped at $1500 myself because it works for my needs. I suspect anything $2000 or higher may require me to go inside though. Since I always withdraw this large amount twice a month and still have a few dollars left they also see it as normal. But I have to call if I go out of town before I make a withdrawal because the location does not match the normal withdrawal amounts. I usually just get it all out asap once my pay deposits and the bank allows it. Maybe I should up the limit to and try to withdraw that to see what happens.

The Beekeeper movie deals with exactly this topic.

I’ve tried to link the trailer, but I keep getting error messages.

a reply to: LollieK3

Well, here's a review at least.
I'll have to check it out.
www.rogerebert.com...