"Over the next nine months, Mortellito - who suffers from age-related memory issues - was convinced by the fraudsters to withdraw a total of approximately $700,000 in a series of unusual withdrawals, and send them the dough for safekeeping, according to court papers. She withdrew a total of around $275,000 from her Merrill Lynch accounts, and transferred it to the scammers, who had convinced her that the money must be converted into gold bullion in order to be secure,"
"The sudden and large transactions were completely out of character for Mortellito, whose withdrawals never topped $5,000 in the over 30 years that TD Bank managed her accounts, and in the two decades she banked with UBS, the court papers claimed. The banks knew she was vulnerable to scammers and added her niece as a co-trustee to the accounts to increase "oversight and financial safeguards" in April 2022, according to the court docs. But nobody at the banks raised any alarms, the lawsuit charged."
"She withdrew a total of around $275,000 from her Merrill Lynch accounts, and transferred it to the scammers, who had convinced her that the money must be converted into gold bullion in order to be secure, and wired another $150,000 from her TD Bank account to a gold bullion dealer in Texas, according to the court docs. The elderly woman also mailed off a $30,000 check, and took out over $100,000 from her accounts at UBS Bank at the fraudsters' instructions, according to the suit."
An 86-year-old woman was targeted by an online pop-up in August 2023 that falsely warned her bank accounts had been hacked. Over nine months she was persuaded, amid age-related memory issues, to make unusual withdrawals totaling about $700,000 and transfer funds to scammers claiming they would convert the money to gold for safekeeping. Withdrawals included roughly $275,000 from Merrill Lynch, $150,000 wired from TD Bank, a $30,000 mailed check, and over $100,000 from UBS. The transactions were out of character, and banks had previously added a co-trustee for oversight but did not raise alarms. A lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court alleging bank negligence.
Read at New York Post
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