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This as told essay is based on a conversation with Leonid Shteyn. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Last year I started looking for ways to make more money with my pension savings. I am 70 and my wife, who is also retired, is 68. We were worried about having enough money to cope with rising inflation. We also wanted to have something to leave behind for our four grandchildren, two of whom have special needs.
I researched investment options online and eventually contacted a friend. He put me in touch with a company he invested in. I checked the company online and everything seemed fine. I spoke to a professional Financial planner tied to the company.
Still, I was careful. I opened an account with just $250. Then I transferred $10,000. When that investments started to grow, I wanted to go all in. I withdrew $100 from the account to make sure it was legit. After that withdrawal was processed, I transferred all my money: $256,470.
Things quickly got strange
Then things started to get strange. The so-called investment company asked me to close a line of credit. They encouraged me to invest in bitcoin and started charging me steep commissions.
One day I received an email, allegedly from a blockchain, the digital wallet where people store bitcoin other cryptocurrencies. When I looked closely, I noticed that one number in the email was wrong: it was a scam intended to look like an official blockchain communication.
That’s when I knew something was very wrong.
I trusted the big bank the scammers used
Still the so-called investment company called me and asked for more money. I got my own lawyer, who sought out the company’s legal representation. He couldn’t find a licensed attorney with the name I was given. Then I hired a private investigator. He followed one con man to Bulgaria and another to the US.
My lawyer realized that I had transferred most of my money to an account bank of America. As an immigrant, I intrinsically trusted Bank of America. I would never have transferred money to a small bank or an international branch, but if you can’t trust them, who can you trust?
Unfortunately, I feel like Bank of America has failed me terribly. Even after my lawyer alerted them to what was going on, they paid a check I wrote to the scammers. They ignored requests from my bank to look into the fraud, and after three requests my bank gave up.
Within three months I went from having healthy retirement savings to having $20,000 in the bank. With attorney fees and the private investigator, I was out almost $300,000.
Older people, like me, need help to protect themselves
This whole debacle is no one’s fault but mine. The point is, I’m a smart guy. I ran a large company for thirty years. I’m good at vetting people, or so I thought.
What frustrates me is that the lack of government oversight allows these types of scams to thrive. I contacted the local police and they said they would investigate. I didn’t hear from them, so I called back. They told me they have 600 cases like this and only three investigators. When I heard that, I knew the chances of my case being resolved were slim to none.
People always ask me what advice I would give to other seniors, but I think that’s the wrong question. There will always be scammers, and people, especially the elderly, will always be vulnerable. We must have confidence that the government and major institutions like Bank of America will stop this fraud. I don’t believe so, because they make money on interest and fees on these fraudulent accounts.
My pension looks very different now
I’ve started from scratch a lot in my life. I immigrated to New York from the Czech Republic in 1989 and later moved from New York to Texas. But it’s hard to start over at 70. I sent in my resume and looked for work as a consultant, but I didn’t get any leads.
I’m fortunate that I have a house and cars that are paid off and I still have some money in the bank. I have given up my dream of helping my grandchildren or traveling in retirement. I just hope my wife and I have enough to live on.
Editor’s note: In a statement to Business Insider, Bank of America said: “We don’t want bank customers to fall victim to scams. We try to work with victims and their banks to return the money when feasible, but unfortunately this is not always possible. We encourage customers to do thorough research to ensure they are sending money to legitimate companies.”
Read the original article Business insider