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#1960791 - 09/10/14 04:28 PM Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice
Lea Offline
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Lea
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 66
Florida
How do other banks handle situations where the elderly person is convinced they're not about to become a victim and still want to wire $ to fraudsters overease, even after speaking with the USSS, the CEO of the Bank,local law enforcement and the BSA Officer? We can't hold the $, we've contacted the Dept of Elder Affairs and law enforcement, but the customer still authorizes the transfers....we let the $ go, but, do we keep the account open? Customer has been with us over 20 years. No $ in the account now, but still has direct deposit and lots of cash at a national bank. The National Bank does not want to talk to us about elder financial exploitation as activity on their end hasn't triggered any of their red flags.
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#1960797 - 09/10/14 04:40 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
charlied Offline
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 94
TN
I do believe you can refuse to wire the money. Or in this case, refuse to send any future wires.

I believe you can also choose to close the account.

Either way, the customer can always take their money somewhere else and have them wire it to scumbags.

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#1960801 - 09/10/14 04:43 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
MagicCity Offline

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MagicCity
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,003
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
We have had similar; we could not convince the customer they were being taken advantage of and went through all the steps you took and she still insisted on sending the money; but we did close the account.

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#1960807 - 09/10/14 04:45 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
JWills, CRCM Offline
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JWills, CRCM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 1,781
The Mitten State
^^^^^here too. They just don't understand, and it is very frustrating.
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#1960818 - 09/10/14 05:00 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
rlcarey Online
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rlcarey
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 83,227
Galveston, TX
Just tell them that you choose not to get involved and refuse the wire request.
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#1961087 - 09/11/14 11:51 AM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
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Elwood P. Dowd
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 21,939
Next to Harvey
A customer cannot make you send a wire... I cringe at the idea of closing the intended victim's account. It's a "zero sum" game; they activity will just be moved to another bank.

However, if you refuse enough transactions, they will probably do it themselves. I've seen banks refuse to cash checks payable to the suspect. (One ordered him out of the bank.) Yes, I know you can't do that. I'm just saying that some banks can actually find the moral high ground and accept the risk.
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#1961411 - 09/11/14 08:41 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
John Burnett Offline
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John Burnett
Joined: Oct 2000
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Cape Cod
Some elders go into very defensive (aka stubborn) behavior patterns when they feel someone is suggesting they aren't able to make wise choices about these frauds that are so apparent to us. It may be the approach used; it may just be that the senior feels threatened by their own mistake in judgment. And you can expect genuine anger from some if you refuse the transaction, but you still should refuse it if you believe it's a scam.

I hope I never reach that point in my life's journey.
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#1961428 - 09/11/14 08:57 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
CULady Online
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 496
WA
I don't suppose there are any joint owners or any other type of signer on the account? We had a situation where we had to call the daughter who was a signer and let her know what we were seeing. It was a really tough call to make, but in the end she appreciated it and helped to get control of the finances and get things turned around. The loss was around $100,000 before she was able to get it under control... We had all talked to him, the tellers, the CEO, the local police, the FBI...
I agree with refusing the wires. They might go on down the road, but maybe it will slow them down enough that someone else can convince them of the terrible mistake they are making.

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#1961477 - 09/12/14 01:37 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
HappyGilmore Offline
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 19,844
Pulling people out of the ditc...
plain and simple, refuse to do the wire. i can't fathom any bank that knows a wire request is fraudulent, their customer is getting scammed and will be out of the money, and will send it anyway because "the customer asked us to" and "we tried to talk them out of it but they were insistent."

if they choose to get upset and close the account, that is their choice. if they choose to withdraw cash and go to western union, that is their choice. but don't them do it through your bank
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#1962899 - 09/18/14 05:18 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
Snowgirl Offline
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 729
We have had the same situation and we refuse to send the money. We have even asked the elderly customer if we could contact a relative (child) to discuss their account activity with them and received their permission to do so. Then the child stepped in.

We would never send the wire. We would tell the customer that we would not do it. If they choose to take their money somewhere else and do it, we couldn't stop them.

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#1962902 - 09/18/14 05:24 PM Re: Elder Financial Exploitation - seeking peer advice Lea
Sunshine Lady Offline
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Sunshine Lady
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 673
Same here. I would rather them be mad at me for not sending the funds than me sending them and they have no recourse.

I had a situation like that and I too called the sister who was on the account and she immediately came to the bank and was able to reason with our customer and we did not have any more issues.

Our job is to protect our bank and our customers as much as we can.
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