A new lawsuit accuses a major U.S. bank of failing to protect an elderly customer from being defrauded of his life savings.
The civil complaint, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, say that PNC Bank should have noticed warning signs and prevented 76-year-old retiree Jeffrey Maas from becoming a victim of fraud.
According to the lawsuit, Maas lost $390,000 after becoming the target of a well-known “phantom hacker/courier” scam.
The scam all started when Maas received a fake email alerting him to a $691.85 fee for “Norton Antivirus.” Maas, concerned about the charges he hadn’t made, called a number in the email and started talking to the scammers.
They eventually convinced Maas that a large sum of money had been accidentally deposited into his account and that he should correct the mistake by purchasing gold coins by transferring money from his bank account to a metal dealer and then handing those coins over to couriers. The scammers posed as representatives of PayPal and PNC Bank.
The lawsuit says PNC Bank employees should have noticed something was wrong when Maas made two large and unusual transfers on consecutive days. The lawsuit also states that PNC Bank employees should have realized that Maas was likely the victim of a scam when he remained on his cell phone with the criminals while arranging the transfers within the bank.
The American Coin and Stamp Company, a New Jersey precious metals dealer, is also accused of negligence in the lawsuit for selling Maas $390,000 worth of gold over two days without asking him relevant questions to assess whether he was being defrauded.
Says Maas’ attorney, Steve Cohen, partner at Pollock Cohen LLP,
“Banks and precious metals dealers are required by law to help detect and prevent this type of financial exploitation of the elderly. Their failure to comply with New Jersey’s elder protection laws and federal government guidelines allows such scams to occur.”
One of the alleged scammers, Jaynesh Patel, is another defendant in the lawsuit. He was arrested after Maas provided photos to police of one of the carrier’s vehicles, the lawsuit said. Patel has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and theft by deception in the second degree.
The aim of the lawsuit is to recover the stolen money from Maas.
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