Parent was one step away from falling for a $30,000 fraud scam from the « Fraud Department »

Long term reader, luckily a first time poster. I hadn’t seen a scam on this forum quite like the one my Father nearly fell prey to, but it definitely rhymes with many of them. I caught wind of what was going on when my Father was on the very last step of kissing $30,000 goodbye forever, and it was basically blind coincidence alongside a ridiculous strategy from the scammer that prevented it. It’s kind of wild how each step of the scam, and explanation from the scammer, gets more and more ridiculous as it progresses. Pressure and urgency have a funny way of short-circuiting logic’s checks and balances though.

So here’s how I gathered it went down. Apparently my dad got a phone call early in the morning from the « New York City Bank/Wire Fraud Department. » They immediately began applying authoritative pressure, that he needs to remain on the phone as they’re conducting an investigation. The scammer apparently already knew which bank my dad did business with, and asked if he had a large vulnerable amount of money in his accounts (red flag, good god).

The scammer’s story was that their Fraud Department was investigating a bank manager at that branch who was directly stealing funds from accounts. » They told my dad that they suspected the Manager (who they « refused » to name in an active investigation) was working with some customers in the theft, and suspected MY DAD was possibly part of the fraud. As he was potentially a co-conspirator, hanging up or ignoring their instructions would be criminal and he could be immediately arrested.

But don’t worry, they had a perfect solution for him! My dad needed to go to the bank and withdraw the $30,000 from his account in cash. He was strictly informed he couldn’t tell the bank his reason for withdrawal, because the bank manager would get wise that he was being investigated. So he made up a story about giving a cash gift for a new car to his son. And just like that, almost in a high-pressured trance, my dad walked out of his bank with $30,000 in his hand.

The next step in the scammer’s plan was even more brilliant! My dad was instructed to head to the nearest CVS (christ) and given instructions to purchase a particular-sized large envelope. He was to put all $30,000 into this envelope, and mail it directly to the address of their New York « Fraud Department » for verification and safe-keeping (whatever the fuck that means) while they monitor the Manager’s activities.

By SHEER LUCK, my dad had just written me a check to shop for a gift for my birthday. He frantically called me to not deposit this check yet, as he had to withdraw all the money in his account and send it somewhere for some kind of investigation for a while… all while he was complaining about how difficult it was to fit these stacks of cash into an envelope to send in the mail. After stomping on the goddamn brakes of that conversation, we started putting the pieces together. Apparently the scammer called him 9 more times that afternoon trying to reach him, before blocking their number.

He was still a bit shaken and paranoid that someone may have actual access to his account, and waited several days before re-depositing the money. Crisis averted, by the skin of his teeth.

I just thought I should share my first real brush with a bona fide scammer, even if it was just secondhand-experience hearing how close a family member came to being conned.