Tag: Fraud

Bank officials and financial advisers are making it their mission to educate and protect elderly patrons from becoming victims of predators out to scam them and take their money.

The elder population is most vulnerable to financial scammers, and banks and financial institutions are holding elder financial abuse seminars, providing facts regarding the latest scams, and giving tips to seniors in-person and online that will teach them how they can prevent cons from stealing from them.

Financial reps are offering best-banking-practice techniques and meeting one-on-one with elderly patrons, their grown children and trusted fiduciaries to make people smarter about financial scams.

Last month New Tripoli Bank held an elder abuse seminar focused on protecting the aging population from scammers. The next seminar will be held Nov. 21st at the bank’s Emmaus office.

“Scams are getting way out of control, and we needed to show people what we do on the inside and outside to prevent scammers from getting your money,” said Ann Bavaria, senior vice president of regulatory compliance, human resources and marketing at New Tripoli Bank.

Bavaria and her associate Stephanie Barton, the bank’s chief information officer, say that many elderly patrons are embarrassed and do not want to admit when they had money stolen, but they need the confidence to speak up.

Since many elderly patrons seldom go online, they are most often scammed by phone or email, Bavaria and Barton said. They fall prey to urgent calls made from strangers and fake IRS and FBI calls.

“Do not wire money to someone you do not know,” Bavaria said. “Come into the bank before you make that decision. No one calls from the IRS, and never give out your social security numbers or financial information.”

 

Protect yourself

Bavaria and Barton suggest the elderly always add a grown child or trusted member of the family to their account, and it is a good practice for senior members of the bank to have alerts put on their account.

“You can get a phone alert whenever a transaction is made or set it up to alert you for transactions involving certain dollar amounts,” Barton said, adding that a grown child on the account can also receive these alerts.

Many brokerage and investment firms are asking that a trusted friend or family member be added to their clients’ accounts, said Sandra LeMere, a a BSA Officer at American Bank in South Whitehall Township.

“…If there is any unusual request from the client, a phone call can be made to the trusted contact and a power of attorney can also be notified,” she said.

LeMere said to never answer calls from strangers, never answer “yes” when the caller asks if they are speaking with “your name,” never believe that the IRS or FBI is calling you, and never believe you have to pay cash up front to the hospital, ambulance or police department.

“The bank has procedures in place that alert them to transactions that may be out of the normal spending pattern for the customer,” LeMere said. “The bank may contact the customer, the power of attorney or other individual on the account to confirm the activity is legitimate. “

She also said that the bank will contact Aging and Adult Services and the police department when necessary, especially when an elderly customer is acting odd or nervous or unusual while in the presence of their caregiver.

At Bethlehem-based First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, one of its most valuable pieces of advice is for the elderly to always be suspicious and use extreme caution anytime someone contacts them to forward money, said Caitlin Stibitz, vice president of marketing.

Those callers usually express a sense of urgency, she said. A common scam is one where a family member, often a grandchild, is calling and hard to understand. They say they are in trouble and need money secretly sent to them.

“Scam artists are good at getting personal information about victims or family members through Facebook or other social media. They use the information to make their story believable,” Stibitz said.

Having another person monitor the account helps prevent these scams, she said.

 

Don’t talk to strangers

At The Neffs National Bank in Lehigh County, Colleen Worysz, vice president of customer service relations, tells elderly clientele not to give out account information, user identifications or passwords. One should verify information every time, no matter who you are dealing with or how you are processing transactions.

Every email, letter and phone call should be scrutinized, say Deborah Carey and Sandee Kennedy at Merchants Bank of Bangor. An elderly member of the bank should name a fiduciary to watch their account to avoid using caregivers to act as agents.

The bank officials say that the elderly patron should trust the person they name as fiduciary but also verify what that fiduciary is doing on your behalf. Inform other family members so they, too, can monitor the senior bank member.

Check your bank account as much as possible and use traceable methods for transactions, Carey and Kennedy said. Online payments from your bank account can be traced, but it is hard to trace a handwritten check that was mailed or given directly to another person.

If you get a request to wire money, make that wire transaction at your bank and not through another company like Western Union. Wired funds are hard to recover unless the transaction is caught early.

The elderly should build a good relationship with their financial adviser, especially since there are times when a grown child or family member cannot be trusted, said financial planner Paul Marrella of Marrella Financial Group LLC, and part of Raymond James Financial Services Inc., in Wyomissing. Many of his clients are seniors, single, never married and have no children.

“Raymond James manages their money, pays their bills, and meets with them in homes or assisted living centers,” he said. “If there is suspicion of fraud, we will put a freeze on the account until we know the money is going to the right place.”

According to Marrella, it is much harder for a scammer to pull money out of an IRA or other retirement account, but still he said he advises his elderly clients to keep it simple.

“Consolidate assets,” he said. “Do not have 10 accounts out there that your grown children will have to worry about.” he said.

And tell your kids what’s going on, he added.

“Let them know what assets you have and where. Have a family meeting.”

 

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When someone has an elderly parent, it is not easy to keep track of what they do. Grown children have their own lives, jobs, spouses, children and activities to juggle.

The daily activities of their aging parent can be somewhat overwhelming for the adult child attempting to maintain balance in their own life. But it is important to pay attention to elderly family members. They may be struggling with handling finances and it may be time to step in.
Here’s are signs from the Pennsylvania Department Banking and Securities that it may be time to step in:

Decision Making

• Trouble paying bills.
• Cannot make financial decisions alone.
• Does not understand financial decisions that are made.
• Others pressuring for money or changes to a will.
• Others accessing accounts/missing money — Cannot reach financial adviser.

Suspicious Behavior

• Others showing too much interest or control.
• Signs of fear, anxiety, or submission.
• Does not understand own financial status.
• Discusses suspicious financial windfall.
• Decline in appearance/appearance of neglect.

Source: Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers.