HINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Alert bank tellers are being credited with preventing two elderly Hingham woman from getting scammed out of thousands of dollars over the past 10 days.
On Monday, 93-year-old woman went into the Hingham Institution for Savings branch located in the Linden Ponds senior living complex, seeking to withdraw $7,800, according to Hingham police.
She had been on the phone during the transaction attempt and when a concerned bank employee asked if they could speak with the person on the phone, the caller hung up, police said.
An officer responding to the bank spoke with the woman who said she received a call from a man who said her bank information may have been compromised and she needed to send money to further protect her additional bank information.
The woman told the caller she does not drive but could walk to the bank, so the caller reportedly told her to stay on the phone as she went to the bank to withdraw the money.
Police say this is a common tactic of scammers to isolate the victim so they do not have the chance to talk or to call anyone and learn they are being scammed.
During the call, the woman gave the caller her Social Security number and other personal identification information to the scammers, police added.
Ten days prior, officers responded to the same bank after employees became suspicious that an 83-year-old woman was possibly being scammed after she withdrew $8,000.
An officer met with the woman who said she received an email from someone claiming to be Amazon that informed her of an $899 charge on her account for an iPhone.
She called the “customer service” phone number that was listed in the email to dispute the charge and during the two-hour call, she was transferred to the “fraud department” who told her not to tell anyone about their conversation but instead head directly to the bank and withdraw the money, police said.
The officer explained to her how this was a scam and the woman deposited the money back into her account.
Authorities applauded the bank employees for their alertness in both cases.
Police are encouraging people to share this information with seniors and have conversations about these scams.
Anyone who thinks a phone call or an unsolicited email may be a scam attempt are advised to hang up the phone or delete the email.
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