Gladys Baxley, 81, is recovering from a terrible incident that occurred after a single phone call. The stranger, who claimed to be from the Social Security Administration, informed Gladys Baxley that scammers were using her social security information, which she needed to protect.
The man sent an email to reassure her that he was indeed a Social Security employee. Gladys Baxley told WUSA9, “I was getting these little thoughts that well, maybe, this isn’t legitimate. I do blame myself for allowing myself to be victimized.”
The email sent to Gladys Baxley contained a “certificate” from “The U.S. Supreme Court for the case of drug trafficking and money laundering,” which read, “The Supreme Court House appeals Gladys Baxley to safeguard all the assets in the time frame given by the in-charge officer before the existing security number is suspended.”
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WUSA9 did discover some problems with the document, though, including the fact that there is no “Supreme Court House”. Besides, the U.S. Supreme Court does not deal with personal matters involving a person’s social security number; it is the Social Security Administration that does that. The document also had over 40 grammatical errors.
Gladys Baxley said she also received numerous text messages from the scammer telling her to transfer all of her funds from her two Eagle Bank personal accounts into a single account. Receipts reveal she made two transfers and even mailed cash to the scammer under various names and locations.
For example, $36,000 was sent to Yongri Trading Inc., followed by $58,000 to Shengya WS Inc. They even instructed her to provide $15,000 in cash. Gladys Baxley wrapped the cash in a newspaper, put it in a box, and had UPS deliver it to the con artists.
The fraudster even texted her some guidelines on how to respond to any questions she may receive at the bank. Gladys Baxley didn’t inform Benjamin Baxley, her son and a signatory on her bank accounts, of what was happening.
But Benjamin Baxley knew right away what had happened to his mother after speaking with her on the phone for a short while.
“I said, mom…you were duped, you were scammed,” Benjamin Baxley recalled.
Gladys Baxley still holds herself responsible for the incident, wishing she had followed her instincts when she first saw the warning signs.
She lamented, “I just thought, how could I have been so stupid? Because I’m well educated, but I’m also a vulnerable person.”
She added, “I’m kicking myself to this day that I…I didn’t just hang up.”
FBI reports that scams targeting individuals aged 60 led to over $3 billion in losses last year.
The 81-year-old’s sons believe that Eagle Bank is somewhat to blame because the bank did not go far enough in investigating those transactions, considering their mother had never transferred such a huge sum of money in the past.
The bank told the outlet in a statement, “We have robust preventative and detective protocols in place to help mitigate the risk of fraud, particularly elder abuse fraud. Although it is Eagle Bank policy to not comment on the specifics of any of our customer’s financial transactions, following a thorough internal investigation, we determined our team members followed all correct protocols. Every effort is being undertaken to work with Ms. Baxley to recover money from the fraudster.”
Casey Baxley, another son of hers, asserts, “I think banks should have to be a firewall in some sense to help protect vulnerable seniors because the scams are just getting worse.”
Meanwhile, a disappointed Gladys Baxley said she had learned to “call my son” before making any financial decisions. She now has to move from her home of 30 years as she doesn’t have enough to remain there.
