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Banker Follows 80 Year-Old Woman and Stops $25,000 Scam
July 14, 2009 10:55 AM
ABC's Tahman Bradley reports from Detroit:
A Midland, Michigan bank manager’s suspicions about an elderly woman who withdrew $25,000 from her account helped bust an alleged lottery fraud scheme.
The story appears in today’s Detroit News. Last December, Marion Case told the manager of Chemical Bank that she was making the large withdrawal for her son, who would receive the money after she gave it to a friend en route to Oklahoma. That story didn’t make sense to Carl Ahearn, the bank manager. Concerned about what was going on, Ahearn followed the woman to a post office where he saw her place the cash in an Express Mail envelope addressed to a man in New Jersey. Ahearn told the post office about his suspicions and they opened an investigation.
Authorities traced the delivery to Elan Saraf, a Continental Airlines flight attendant from New Jersey, who was arrested Monday and charged with mail fraud. The 80-year-old woman was told she had won nearly $1 million in a sweepstakes but needed to pay "processing fees," according to a criminal complaint. The Associated Press reports the woman had sent seven payments in the scheme totaling $55,775.
Two other people who worked at Continental with Saraf are identified as having been involved in the fraud, though they are not accused of any wrongdoing.
It looks like the bank manager has proven that customer service is not dead!
July 14, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (13)
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I think that old lady is somewhat greedy. Throwing away all that money for 1 mil. Kudos to the banker though.
Posted by: tininbadoo | Jul 14, 2009 11:38:58 AM
Great to hear that some people in customer service are not just collecting a paycheck going through the motions. That banker needs to be on the Obama administration. Maybe then we'd have some transparency as promised.
Posted by: kaspiahn | Jul 14, 2009 11:51:26 AM
That banker needs to be appointed the new Banking Czar! He is the kind of person I want watching over the nation's financial industry....and while we're at, let's roll the SEC under his watch as well.
Posted by: loveit | Jul 14, 2009 12:17:49 PM
Good job! More people should do the right thing.
Posted by: morekare | Jul 14, 2009 1:06:56 PM
Yes, good for the banker!
And good for the Post Office, too. They paid attention to the banker and followed up!
Posted by: Rich Hamilton | Jul 14, 2009 1:13:22 PM
When you get past 70, schemers think you drool and have no wits about you. Dementia sets in and things that you would consider an "illogical" decision, seem so plausible. They feed on the elderly's weaknesses. Thanks to the banker who is watching out for ALL customers.
Posted by: Carol McCrite | Jul 14, 2009 2:31:50 PM
There is always an element of greed to such deals, but some people DO need someone to watch over their decisions. Kudos to the the bank manager who thought her story was deceptive.
Posted by: passingthru | Jul 14, 2009 2:39:43 PM
"Two other people who worked at Continental with Saraf are identified as having been involved in the fraud, though they are not accused of any wrongdoing."
Doesn't it seem like the other two who were involved should be charged with something? At the very least, I would hope Continentl will fire them but I doubt that can happen either.
Posted by: TheaterFan | Jul 14, 2009 2:50:26 PM
While the 80 yr old lady got scammed,
there are 40 yr old men and women who
fall for this trap. In this case the
American Bankers Association should give
him a big award and reward.
But, don't just focus on older people.
Bernie Madoff scammed some of the most
intelligent people around. So did AIG
and Enron, just to cite two others.
I almost fell for the same game. But
first I visited the local police
department. A detective explained the
same to me. Any checks which people
send to you to cash and send a portion
back should be shredded. If not the
check will bounce and you'll be
held accountable.
Posted by: Alan Kardoff | Jul 14, 2009 3:41:41 PM
wish the bank had done that when my 80 yr old dad with dementia walked into the dealer to buy a mercedes and the salesman marhen him down to the bank and withdrew 60k,to pay cash
Posted by: granitecrag | Jul 14, 2009 6:33:47 PM
I've known the banker in this story for many years and always found him to be a good man with great integrity, his actions in this story don't surprise me one bit. Way to go, Mr. Ahearn!
Posted by: Randy | Jul 15, 2009 1:47:27 AM
This is a version of a Nigerian scam which has been going for years and which some people who are not that old still occasionally fall for.
Posted by: Candadai Tirumalai | Jul 15, 2009 9:48:52 AM
She must havbe known she was doing something sneaky because she lied about why she needed the money in the first place.
Posted by: richeyrich | Jul 20, 2009 10:31:10 AM
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