A Georgia woman has lost $73,000 in a fraud scheme involving callers impersonating Bank of America employees and law enforcement, according to reports.
The scam began when a caller claiming to work in the bank's fraud unit told the woman that someone was stealing from her account. The caller then transferred her to someone posing as a police officer, who instructed her to consolidate her savings into a single account.
The fraudsters then told her to visit a Bank of America branch and initiate a wire transfer to stop the alleged theft. When staff at the first branch warned her that she was being scammed, the caller instructed her to leave and try a different location with a different story.
She completed the $73,000 wire transfer at a second Bank of America branch. After discussing the transaction with her husband at home, she realized she had been defrauded and contacted the bank to attempt to reverse the transfer. However, the money had already been sent.
Wire transfers initiated in person at bank branches are typically treated as authorized customer transactions, making them difficult to reverse. Reimbursement in such cases is rare, as customers bear responsibility for transfers they personally authorize.
