By Christine Willinger
A 77-year-old widow requests a withdrawal of $20,000 from her bank account. She just purchased a second home and needs the funds for home improvement, she says, and an account manager approves the request.
One week later, she withdraws $30,000 for the same reason. The request goes through easily.
Another week goes by; now she requests $100,000 for an “investment.” Concerned, the account manager offers to vet this investment opportunity, but she declines. The request goes through.
The withdrawals were for neither home improvements nor investment opportunities; she was making payments to a “friend,” made on an online dating site, who claimed to need financial support to visit her in the U.S.
This is a real case described by Nancy Heffner, CRCP, Director of Compliance at Lincoln Investment Planning and panelist at this year’s World Elder Abuse Awareness Day event, held by the Philadelphia Financial Exploitation Prevention Task Force.