Nearly $250k gone: Elderly woman surrenders insurance policies, transfers savings to fake cop

An elderly woman lost nearly $250,000 after scammers tricked her into believing she was implicated in a drug-related case.

Her son surnamed Lin, 43, told Shin Min Daily News that his mother, 74, had received a call last May informing her that she owed a hospital a $1,000 bill for her medicine.

The woman had indeed visited the hospital recently but said she did not have any unpaid bills. The call was then transferred to another person, who claimed to be a police officer.

The 'police officer' told the woman that a bank card with her name was found during an anti-drug operation and sent her a photo of an 'arrest warrant'.

If she did not co-operate with investigations by handing over her personal information including details of her bank accounts, the accounts would be frozen for 16 months, said the 'cop'.

Lin said his mother believed the scammers as they knew her recent spending transactions and she then complied with their instructions as she was worried that their joint bank account would be affected.

He added that the scammers gave step-by-step instructions to his mother on how to open a new bank account, and even sent someone to visit her home to guide her.

The elderly woman successfully opened the bank account online, using an email address given by the scammers to receive authentication requests.

Surrendered 9 insurance policies

According to Shin Min, the woman subsequently surrendered nine insurance policies under her name, with the total cash value being nearly $200,000.

She then transferred the hefty sum to the newly-opened bank account and topped up the account with over $50,000 from her savings, bringing the total balance in that account to about $250,000.

The elderly woman only checked the account an unspecified amount of time later, after being told that 'investigations' had concluded.

Much to her shock, only a few hundred dollars remained in the account.

The woman's family only discovered that she had been scammed of her pension after she lodged a police report at the station.

Son puzzled how the bank allowed an elderly person to open account

While Lin acknowledged his mother was at fault, he also expressed dissatisfaction towards the bank and insurance company.

"How can a bank allow a 74-year-old person to open an online banking account and not notice clues of something wrong? It's absurd."

He was also puzzled by how the insurance company had allowed his mother to surrender all her policies.

Lin told Shin Min he had contacted the bank and insurance company multiple times but did not receive any explanation.

"These [scammers] have no conscience," he said. "I hope others will take [our story] as a warning and not be fooled."

ALSO READ: 'They seemed very kind': Retired cleaner nearly scammed out of about $160k by 'police officers'

lim.kewei@asiaone.com