An elderly woman has lost her life savings in a sophisticated scam amid warnings from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, according to a new report.
Retired therapist Judith Boivin lost about $600,000 after scammers tricked her into believing she was an integral part of an undercover government operation. reports The Washington Post.
Boivin says the bad actors led her to believe she was working with the FBI on a mission to take down a Mexican cartel involved in selling illegal drugs and money laundering.
When Boivin visited Morgan Stanley to get her nest egg out, bank employees immediately became suspicious. One investigator told her she was likely the victim of extensive fraud.
“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.”
But Boivin says she stuck to a script given to her by the scammers, who coached her to write a letter telling the bank to release her money.
“This is a decision I am making while I am of sound mind and after celebrating my 79th birthday and entering my 80th year of life, I want to have full control over my finances at this time.”
When Morgan Stanley released her money, Boivin was told to split the money and deposit it into new accounts at Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank and TD Bank. To avoid arousing suspicion, she then withdrew between $10,000 and $20,000 from those accounts per visit.
Boivin says she delivered most of her money in a brown slip of paper to couriers in a nearby parking lot, believing the FBI was keeping watch.
Morgan Stanley says Boivin could not be discouraged, even though the bank took several steps to prevent her from losing her money to fraud, including briefly putting a freeze on her account and notifying a family member and authorities.
JPMorgan says branch staff have urged it to reconsider.
“Despite several attempts to get her to reconsider, she told our branch staff that she needed the money for a business venture.
She later acknowledged that she had been coached by the scammers on what to say to our bankers. The best way to avoid these types of scams is to ignore money requests from people you don’t know.”
Capital One, PNC and TD Bank said they could not comment specifically on Boivin’s case.
Don’t miss a beat – Subscribe to receive email alerts straight to your inbox
Check price action
Follow us further X, Facebook And Telegram
Surf to the Daily Hodl mix
Generated image: Midjourney
Credit : dailyhodl.com
