Elderly couple loses life savings to scammer posing as FBI agent

An elderly couple in Burbank, Illinois, said they lost their life savings after a caller convinced them he was an FBI agent investigating suspicious activity at their bank. The scam involved trips to two different Chase branches, a courier in a black SUV and a man claiming to work for the FBI. (WBBM via CNN Newsource)

Burbank, ILLINOIS (WBBM) -- An elderly couple in Burbank, Illinois, said they lost their life savings after a caller convinced them he was an FBI agent investigating suspicious activity at their bank.

The scam involved trips to two different Chase branches, a courier in a black SUV and a man claiming to work for the FBI.

“I received a phone call I’d say between 11 and 11:30 from a man who claimed to be a banking investigator,” said Gail Walsh.

Walsh said she got the call from the main claiming he worked for the FBI on Aug. 15. He was asking for her help and even sent her an official-looking email.

“He seemed to know how much I had in my bank account, how much I had in my checking account, and he said I want you to go to your bank and withdraw $18,400,” she recalled.

That was pretty much everything she and her husband had. The caller, who kept her on the phone the whole time, walked her through the process as she entered her Chase bank branch at 79th and Cicero and took out the cash.

Then she was instructed to read off some of the serial numbers printed on the cash. The caller told her some of the bills were counterfeit, so she needed to drive to the Chase bank at 95th and Pulaski where she met a man in a black SUV who took the money.

The man on the phone told her someone from Chase would be coming out the front door to meet her momentarily to give her the “genuine cash,” but that person never came.

“That’s when it hit me in a sickening way that I was never going to see this money again,” Walsh said.

Walsh said she reached out to Chase but was told there was nothing they could do. She questioned why alarm bells didn’t go off when she made such a large withdrawal.

“When I look back, I beat myself up because there are so many places I should have stopped,” she said.

CBS News Chicago Investigators reached out to Chace Bank. A representative said they are “working directly with our customer as she co-operates with law enforcement to pursue the criminals responsible for this scam.”

“I just don’t understand why these people just pick on older people,” she said. “I mean, we’re not rich.”

CBS News Chicago Investigators also reached out to the FBI about the case. While they said they can’t comment on any pending investigations, a spokesperson said these kinds of FBI impersonation scams, in particular, are on the rise.

Walsh and her husband are hopeful something can be done to recoup some of the money. And just as importantly, they want to warn others not to fall for it.

“You have to be so careful what you say over the phone, to whom you say it,” Walsh warned.

The FBI also said to be wary of providing money or personal information to someone with whom you did not initiate contact.