Scammer Posing As FBI Agent Sends Elderly Couple to Two Chase Branches, Takes $18,400 Life Savings

An elderly couple has lost their life savings after a scammer posing as an FBI agent sent them to two Chase branches to pull out $18,400 in cash.

Gail Walsh of Burbank, Illinois, says a man claiming to be a banking investigator called her on August 15th, reports CBS News Chicago.

She says the caller told her he worked for the FBI, asked for her help and even sent her an official-looking email.

Says Walsh,

“He seemed to know how much I had in my bank account, how much I had in my checking account, and he said I want you to go to your bank and withdraw $18,400.”

That was nearly all the money she and her husband had.

Keeping her on the phone the whole time, the caller walked her through the withdrawal at the Chase branch at 79th and Cicero.

He then had her read off serial numbers from the bills and claimed some of them were counterfeit.

She was told to drive to a second Chase branch at 95th and Pulaski, where a man in a black SUV took the money.

The caller said someone from Chase would come out of the branch with “genuine cash” to replace it, but no one ever showed up.

Says Walsh,

“That’s when it hit me in a sickening way that I was never going to see this money again.”

Walsh says Chase told her there was nothing it could do, and she questions why such a large withdrawal did not set off any alarms.

Chase says it is working directly with Walsh as she cooperates with law enforcement to go after the people behind the scam.

The FBI says it cannot comment on the case but that FBI impersonation scams are on the rise.