BofA Accused of Aiding Elder Financial Abuse

A person answering the phone there told Ma the police wanted to jail her because she had $3 million in a Shanghai bank account that had been used for human abductions, according to the case. Ma responded that her money was clean and not associated with criminal activity.

Ma had no money in China or anywhere outside the U.S., her attorney, Monica Hartsock, told ThinkAdvisor by email Thursday.

“The person on the phone from the number she called at the direction of the BofA employee convinced (Ma) that her account was under suspicion for being involved in a major crime. The person stated they needed to check (her) money to see if it is involved in criminal activity or if it’s clean. The person stated that without (Ma’s) cooperation, (she) was facing incarceration in jail,” the suit says.

This frightened Ma, who later that month wired $490,000 — all her life savings at the time — per the instructions given to her so that it could be “checked for criminal activity,” she contends. Ma was then asked to send more to avoid going to jail, so she obtained a $200,000 reverse mortgage and wired those funds as well in April 2021, according to the case.

“BofA should have known that the elderly plaintiff was potentially being scammed, they did nothing to stop the ongoing scam, and ignored the many government advisories they have received informing them to detect, deter and respond to the ‘red flags’ of financial elder abuse,” the lawsuit contends.

“The fact she had $490,000 in her account and was a Chinese-American, 74 years old, is why she was the perfect victim for the employee of BofA who told her to call the specific number,” which sent her into the scam, the lawsuit says.

Ma also alleges that the bank “never contacted the local police department or anyone else to investigate the scam perpetrated against (her) even though they supposedly ‘conducted’ an investigation, “ the suit says, also alleging that BofA didn’t report the employee to police despite being told about the scam and reviewing lobby security video showing her activity when Ma visited the branch.

Despite the situation bearing several elder financial abuse red flags, BofA “did nothing to stop it — nothing — and instead, were a substantial factor in allowing the scam to occur,” the case alleges, also contending that the bank never escalated the suspected abuse or put a hold on the account. The “shockingly” large transactions should have triggered a suspicious activities report and required a currency transaction report, the complaint notes.

The lawsuit contends that BofA knew or should have known about the financial elder abuse under California’s Elder and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.

Ma made a modest income in her working years and saved the $490,000 by living a very frugal life, Hartsock told ThinkAdvisor. Her home was paid off before she took the reverse mortgage; Ma now has panic attacks when she hears about rising interest rates, the lawyer said.

“She has no retirement now and lives in fear. She’s extremely depressed and fearful of all strangers to the extent that she will leave a public space where there are strangers,” said Hartsock. Afraid to get a panic attack while driving, Ma goes only to church, groceries or the gas station, no longer visitng her friends at their homes, she said.

Ma and her husband “worked very hard their entire life for this savings, and losing that bit of security in her late age has created a great deal of stress, including suicidal thoughts,” said Hartsock, adding that her client now has a mental health nurse practitioner and is on medication.