March 26, 2026
By Barrett Seaman–
Barry, an attorney, while driving to work, gets a call from someone purporting to be his son. He’s crying. His voice isn’t quite right but then again, he says he has broken his nose in a car accident. “I hit another car…broke my nose. They arrested me, took my phone. I’m in jail. You need to call the public defender, David Johnson, to get me out of here right now.”
The phone rings again. It’s Dave Johnson, the public defender. He says that Barry’s son was arrested because he failed a breathalyzer test. The father should call a certain number he says is the courthouse where the son will be arraigned. He even provides a case number. Barry calls the courthouse number and is told that bail has been set at $100,000 and that the father needs to post 10% of that, i.e. $10,000.
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Unfortunately, Barry is told, the bail bondsman is away on a family emergency and unavailable, but Barry can post an attorney’s bond by calling public defender Dave Johnson, who in turn instructs him to wire the $10,000 to his credit union through a certain cryptocurrency kiosk. And he needs to do it in two hours before Dave has to leave town himself.
It’s here where the story takes a lucky turn for Barry, who decides first to call his daughter-in-law. She in turn alerts the real son, who calls Barry and assures him he is fine. The circle of deceit is broken and the scam blows up. No accident; no broken nose; no DUI; no jail; no bond. No money changes hands.
The person relaying this disturbing tale is Merrill Lynch Senior Financial Advisor Susan Condit, who works out of Merrill’s White Plains office. As part of a side gig she has taken on, she is making a presentation on behalf of Merrill Lynch at the Irvington Public Library on the topic of senior fraud. The subject is of vital interest to Merrill—as it is to all financial institutions, which saw scam artists walk away with $1.2 billion from client investment accounts in 2023 alone—up from $239 million just two years earlier. The numbers are still growing.
Condit deconstructs Barry’s near-miss victimhood. She points out the psychological manipulation underlying the plot: transferring the victim’s emotional reaction from the rational frontal cortex of the brain to the hippocampus, where emotions rule. Factors designed to trigger this include the son’s physical injury, the alleged DUI, and the prospect of jail. Aggravating that is the incentive to meet a series of deadlines—no time to think. It all contributes to Barry’s failure to pick up on the big giveaway that this is not legit: the need to funnel the money through a crypto kiosk, which would leave the money untraceable.
The distressed child or relative script is just one of many scam scenarios all of us face, but particularly seniors who may be more susceptible and who are also more likely to have assets to steal. Callers claiming to represent Medicare, looking for confirmation of Social Security numbers, have become commonplace. Other callers tell potential victims that they have been awarded large amounts of money but won’t be able to collect the principal until they first pay taxes and upfront fees.
Cybercriminals range from lone actors to giant fraud factories. The United Nations reports “a proliferation of illicit operations, known as scam farms, following the COVID-19 pandemic, in Southeast Asia, including in the Philippines, where they have often operated alongside legal gambling businesses.” Conscripts work long hours under poor conditions, forced to spend their days making phone calls to Westerners, particularly Americans. Typically, they are paid subsistence wages, if any wages at all, while their “managers” reap the ill-gotten gains.
Seniors are less likely to know what to do if a hacker takes over their computer and demands a ransom before releasing the screen. Scammers commandeer email addresses and send messages, purportedly from friends who claim they are stranded overseas, have had their wallet stolen and need $1,500 to settle a hotel bill and buy a plane ticket home. The clever ones may know enough detail about those whose identity they have stolen to dispel doubt in the fraudster’s prey.
A recent data breach of the legitimate invitation platform Evite gave hackers access to the users’ accounts, allowing them to send phishing attempts, malicious links or other scam communications to unsuspecting individuals. Any electronic invitation that asks for one’s email password is almost certainly fraudulent.
Beyond the litany of electronic skullduggery, Merrill’s Condit aimed to convey the various steps one should take to avoid getting scammed. Armed with 60 different tip sheets detailing the protective measures seniors should adopt and the resources available, she focused her presentation on the most important ones.
*Download a malware app, like McAfee, Malwarebytes or Norton, onto your laptop or phone and run it periodically. Merrill Lynch offers its clients Trusteer Rapport, a security software app specifically designed to protect online banking. But the app is free for anyone to access.
*Regularly change passwords—Yes, it’s a pain but probably the most effective defense against cybercriminals. Don’t use obvious things like birthdays and relatives’ names. Do it often—as much as once a month—and keep a record of updated passwords somewhere other than on your computer.
*Where offered, adopt two-factor authentication—in addition to a password, have a second clue, like a phone number, golf handicap or a fingerprint.
*Establish warning thresholds for bank and/or credit card accounts so that you are notified of a withdrawal above a certain amount. If you have a financial advisor, he or she should doublecheck to make sure a large wire transfer has been authorized.
*Government communications—are almost always done through snail mail, the U.S. Postal Service, not through email or phone calls. If you get a phone call from someone alleging to be a representative of a federal or state agency—especially if they speak with a foreign accent, have them contact you my mail, then hang up.
*Independent verification—If a message from a credit card issuer, bank or any institution with whom you have a financial relationship offers a phone number or email address to conduct a transaction, go to that institution’s independent web site on a separate server (e.g. Chrome vs. Safari) first. If your account is in order there, you can assume the request was fraudulent.
*Title/deed theft—Armed with the right data, fraudsters from anywhere in the world can access your property title, which is most likely registered with the Westchester County Clerk’s office and change the legal ownership. The County District Attorney’s office is responsible for preventing and prosecuting these crimes. “When our office receives a complaint alleging deed theft,” stated a spokesperson for the DA’s office, “it is assigned to an investigator and prosecutor with experience handling complex financial crimes, including deed theft and other real estate crimes.” Homeowners who have paid off their mortgages—almost always seniors—are more vulnerable to these thefts, because there is no institutional entity (a mortgage lender or home equity line of credit provider to keep watch over records. Anyone suspecting to be the victim of deed theft should call the DA’s tip line, 914) 995-TIPS (8477.
For further advice on how to protect your assets, feel free to contact Susan Condit at Merrill Lynch (susan.condit@ml.com)
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