Widow Scammed For Over 100K
This story is both heartbreaking and eye opening. And something that we should all take notice of when you have aging family members. Kitty Hanson, who's daughter lives in St. Augusta, received a phone call saying that she had won a substantial sum of money from the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. She needed to pay the taxes on the "winnings". She wound up sending several BOXES of money through UPS to an address in Florida.
Kitty's daughter thought something might be off, so she called the bank. The bank wouldn't give her any information because her name wasn't on the account.
This could have gotten even worse, as Kitty had tried to take out a home equity loan. The bank denied the loan application. Thank God!
Kitty's daughter says this is a good thing to think about... make sure you have your name on your parent's account. That way when the bank suspects fraud they can call and ask you about it. As the privacy law stands, that is something that is not allowed.
The bank is not being blamed in this unfortunate series of events.
Biggest thing- NEVER and I mean NEVER send cash through the mail.