A 71-year-old Key Biscayne woman thought it was an ordinary call from her bank on a Wednesday morning in February. But the man on the other end of the phone, didn’t work for Chase Bank as he claimed.
Instead that — identified later by a Chase Bank investigator — as Luis Pena, helped himself to $20,000 of her money.
Now, the victim is working with her attorney, Chase Bank and the FBI to get her money back, according to Chief of Police Frank Sousa.
It was just after 11 a.m. on Feb. 18, when the 71-year-old said she got a call from someone she thought was a Chase Bank employee, according to a police incident report.
“The caller advised that they needed to move funds within her account and stated it was important for her to confirm her personal information in order to complete the transaction,” officer Natasha Griffin wrote in her report.
The victim provided the information requested while also checking the phone number the call came from online and finding it was a possible Chase bank location in New York. But later that evening, the victim got a notification that $20,000 had actually been withdrawn from her account.
The victim reported the unauthorized transaction to Chase Bank who launched their own investigation. She was later told she needed to file a police report after the bank had concluded its investigation in order to attempt to get reimbursed, which she did at the Key Biscayne Police Department on the morning of March 26.
“Additionally, the possible subject identified by the Chase Investigator, was determined to reside in Pennsylvania and is therefore outside of our jurisdiction,” Sousa said on Thursday. “Based on the information currently available, that is also where the funds were reportedly withdrawn from.”
Financial scams targeting older people is on the rise in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2018, fraud and romance scams cost older adults more than $184 million.
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Oftentimes, victims don’t report these crimes because they feel embarrassed, scared or don’t know who to turn to. That prompted the DOJ Office for Victims of Crime to create the National Elder Fraud Hotline, a free resource for anyone age 60 or older to report fraud.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of elder fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline, you can call 833–FRAUD–11.
Locally in Key Biscayne, police have also seen a steady rise in fraud cases. In response, police have hosted several prevention seminars, especially aimed at seniors.
Reaction has been good but some residents have told police they want more individualized help so the department is looking into that.
Jessica De Leon is a general assignment reporter at the Key Biscayne Independent.