Annette Manes—an 85-year-old widowed social worker from Hudson River Valley, N.Y.—was victimized in a $1.4 million scam that wiped out her life savings over the course of 279 days. Henry Kanapi picked up the Bloomberg coverage for the Manila publication The Daily Hodl.
Scammers posing as representatives from JPMorgan Chase and the U.S. government convinced Manes to go “undercover” as a victim to help “flush out a rogue staffer and bad actors who were targeting elderly people.” They instructed her to make it appear that she was getting fleeced.
How Scammers Exploited Bank Procedures
Following the scammers’ instructions, Manes went to a JPMorgan Chase branch and withdrew $169,000 from her account in just one week. When her funds ran low, she sold holdings at Vanguard to deposit more money into the bank. In total, she delivered $730,000 from her JPMorgan account to the criminals.
As her relationship with Chase soured due to concerns over her frequent withdrawals, she opened accounts with Bank of America and then Wells Fargo, continuing to make massive withdrawals until those accounts were also eventually closed.
Manes also authorized the scammers to open credit cards in her name at Citibank and Capital One, running up six-figure debt. She opened additional bank accounts with M&T Bank and Hudson Valley Credit Union, but both institutions rapidly flagged her transactions and closed the accounts after brief periods of activity.
Banks’ Neglect: Why the Scam Wasn’t Stopped
Throughout the ordeal, major financial institutions reportedly failed to stop the scam or contact law enforcement. The swindle came to light only when Manes’ son was contacted by adult protective services, ending the nine-month nightmare.
Chase stated that its branch staff did question Manes about her transactions, but she was always calm and insistent. Both Chase and Wells Fargo claim they reached out to adult protective services over concerns they had about the senior customer.
The Rising Threat of Elder Fraud
What may be the most unfortunate outcome of this crime is the statistical evidence showing that scams of this kind are on the upswing nationwide. FBI data show that crimes targeting the elderly have increased 255 percent over the past three years, with $3.4 billion stolen in that time frame.
More details on how banks failed to stop elder fraud can be found at Daily Hodl.
