There’s only one reason why someone is coaching you to lie to your bank about your reason for making a significant withdrawal from your account – they are scamming you. Period.
It doesn’t matter what claims, promises or threats they’ve made. Every red alarm should be blaring when someone tells you to lie to your bank about why you’re making a withdrawal – saying things like “It’s your money” or “The bank has no right to question you.”
Scammers are heartless, relentless criminals. They “win” when they get their victim’s money. The scammers understand that banks are trying to protect people so they coach their about-to-be victims to lie to the bank. Banks are fighting back.
If your bank asks why you’re making a withdrawal, you have basically arrived at your 2nd to last chance to save yourself from becoming a scam victim. (The last step is when you willingly send your money to wherever the scammer said you should send it. Game over. Scammers win.)
If someone has coached you, urged you or encouraged you to lie to the people at the bank, be truthful and tell the bankers that. No matter what the scammer says or how much you dearly wish (or are afraid) that their story is true, you can’t trust that voice on the phone. You can trust your bank.
(It’s truly a shame that so many scam victims choose to believe an anonymous voice on the phone – the scammer – and not the in-real-life people at the bank who have often lived and worked in the community for decades. But then the bankers aren’t making wild promises or wild threats that have the victim adrenaline-fueled and reacting without thinking.)
People make friends in so many ways and – these days – striking up a friendship with someone you have only “met online” is not uncommon, especially through social media.
Which is why scammers learn just enough about a potential victim to make some connection so as not to seem like a “complete stranger.” But scammers behave quite differently from the good people you might “meet” online or in-person.
Scammers push. They demand secretiveness. Some of what they say doesn’t make sense. They tell stories about an opportunity to make out-of-this-world investment returns or they promise a relationship. Some make very serious threats.
A non-scammer friend might ask if you’d be interested in a $10 raffle ticket for their kid’s fundraiser at school. Something normal. A scammer will say you should borrow against your home equity line or clean out your retirement account or withdraw all your savings to “invest” or “pay a tax” or to “keep your money safe.” It’s a world of difference.
Scammers don’t care that the IRS expects victims to pay taxes on money withdrawn from retirement accounts – money that’s gone now. Scammers don’t care that becoming the victim of a scam leaves people humiliated and deeply shaken. They don’t care that falling for a scam leaves some people’s families wondering if the victim has a cognitive impairment. Scammers don’t care about any of that. The only thing scammers care about is getting your money.
If you find yourself doing something you would never ordinarily do – like staying on your phone in the bank while withdrawing a large sum in a high-pressure situation and lying to your bank about the reason why – you are being scammed.
Hang up the phone. Trust the bank and tell them the truth. You will be very glad that you did.
From the “Smart About Money” Canton Citizen column published on July 11, 2024.
Nick Maffeo is the President & CEO of Canton Co-operative Bank – right next to the Post Office – in Canton.
Have a question? Email to info@cantoncoopbank.com.