I’ve always been a skeptical person. I can’t easily accept something for surface value, and I tend to ask a million questions. If it sounds too good to be true, chances are, it probably is. But no one can be on their guard all the time, and I’ve been taken advantage of, and it’s not fun. There was a gym membership that I was once tricked into signing for a year – and locked in – when I thought it was only for one month! And I’m a tough cookie. I felt like this was a smooth move, so I can just imagine how easy it would be to target an unsuspecting victim, and unfortunately, it’s usually the older generation. Whether it’s the immediate trust or lack of knowledge surrounding the latest leaps in technology, it’s the elderly that tend to fall victim to fraud.
But nothing compares to what happened to 112-year-old veteran Richard Overton, the nation’s oldest living veteran who served in Hawaii and Japan during WWII, who just recently lost all of his life savings – every last penny, from right under his nose.
It started when Richard’s cousin Volma went to deposit money into Richard’s account and noticed that the only cash visible in his account was the money he had just deposited! There was nothing else there. Zip. Zero. Nada. And then came that sinking feeling, that gut-wrenching moment where he didn’t know what was going on, but it didn’t feel and look good.
Upon contacting the bank, it was communicated that Treasury Direct withdrew money four times to buy several savings bonds – someone was able to get a hold of Richard’s personal information and set up an account with Treasury Direct to withdraw the money.
“I don’t know how they got his social security number and his personal chequing account number but those things they have,” says Volma, who won’t reveal how much money was taken, but it was a significant amount.
The silver lining is that there has been lots of coverage on Richard’s story, and a huge uproar from the public. “He’s going to be upset. We are trying to keep him in his home through all types of fundraisers, and someone can just take that from him? You are going to do that to him? Shame on you.”
The family has no idea who the criminal could be. Could it be anyone close to him? Volma says, “It would be terrible to know someone that’s so close to him, could use him like that.”
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