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Banker Follows 80 Year-Old Woman and Stops $25,000 Scam
July 14, 2009 10:55 AM
abcNewsShare.render(false,false,false,'http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/index.rdf',false,'addthis');ABC's Tahman Bradley reports from Detroit:
A Midland, Michigan bank manager’s suspicions about an elderly woman who withdrew $25,000 from her account helped bust an alleged lottery fraud scheme.
The story appears in today’s Detroit News. Last December, Marion Case told the manager of Chemical Bank that she was making the large withdrawal for her son, who would receive the money after she gave it to a friend en route to Oklahoma. That story didn’t make sense to Carl Ahearn, the bank manager. Concerned about what was going on, Ahearn followed the woman to a post office where he saw her place the cash in an Express Mail envelope addressed to a man in New Jersey. Ahearn told the post office about his suspicions and they opened an investigation.
Authorities traced the delivery to Elan Saraf, a Continental Airlines flight attendant from New Jersey, who was arrested Monday and charged with mail fraud. The 80-year-old woman was told she had won nearly $1 million in a sweepstakes but needed to pay "processing fees," according to a criminal complaint. The Associated Press reports the woman had sent seven payments in the scheme totaling $55,775.
Two other people who worked at Continental with Saraf are identified as having been involved in the fraud, though they are not accused of any wrongdoing.
It looks like the bank manager has proven that customer service is not dead!
July 14, 2009 10:55 AM
abcNewsShare.render(false,false,false,'http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/index.rdf',false,'addthis');ABC's Tahman Bradley reports from Detroit:
A Midland, Michigan bank manager’s suspicions about an elderly woman who withdrew $25,000 from her account helped bust an alleged lottery fraud scheme.
The story appears in today’s Detroit News. Last December, Marion Case told the manager of Chemical Bank that she was making the large withdrawal for her son, who would receive the money after she gave it to a friend en route to Oklahoma. That story didn’t make sense to Carl Ahearn, the bank manager. Concerned about what was going on, Ahearn followed the woman to a post office where he saw her place the cash in an Express Mail envelope addressed to a man in New Jersey. Ahearn told the post office about his suspicions and they opened an investigation.
Authorities traced the delivery to Elan Saraf, a Continental Airlines flight attendant from New Jersey, who was arrested Monday and charged with mail fraud. The 80-year-old woman was told she had won nearly $1 million in a sweepstakes but needed to pay "processing fees," according to a criminal complaint. The Associated Press reports the woman had sent seven payments in the scheme totaling $55,775.
Two other people who worked at Continental with Saraf are identified as having been involved in the fraud, though they are not accused of any wrongdoing.
It looks like the bank manager has proven that customer service is not dead!
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