newsio aggregates and links to original sources. We do not own the original images or content. If you believe content infringes on intellectual property rights, contact us — it will be removed at first notice.
fintech/news/2026-06-07/The New York Times
Karen Battista and Angela Castaldo have spent a combined 47 years behind the teller counter at a Chase branch.
Scammers spoofed Chase's caller ID to contact an 81-year-old recently widowed customer.
KEY POINTS
The scammer impersonated a Chase employee and claimed to open a 'safe' account for the customer.
Bank teller Karen Battista uncovered the scam when a man's name appeared on the alleged new account.
The scammer was actively listening to the teller-customer conversation by remaining on the victim's phone line.
Karen Battista and Angela Castaldo have spent a combined 47 years behind the teller counter at a Chase branch in Scarsdale, N.Y., an affluent suburb just north of Manhattan. They know which customers just returned from vacation, whose children were recently married and who just lost a beloved dog.
Just before closing time on a cold February afternoon, one of their longtime customers, then 81 and recently widowed, walked up to Ms. Battista’s station. The woman needed to transfer $9,000 into a new account. She slid her debit card into the reader on the counter, but when Ms. Battista searched for a new account under her name, nothing came up.
What the customer shared next provided some clues: Before coming in, she said, she received a call from Chase — at least that was what it said on her cellphone’s caller ID. The caller asked if she had made three transfers for $1,000 each via Zelle, the bank’s digital payment service, something she had never used.
The caller then transferred the customer to a man who called himself “Michael” and who said he would open a new account for her to safeguard her money from fraudsters. But she’d have to go into a branch to transfer $9,000 into the new account.
After digesting the details, Ms. Battista asked for the new account number and plugged it into the bank’s system. A man’s name appeared. “Hold on a second,” Ms. Battista recalled saying. “If you take this money out and put this money in his account, then that’s it for your money.”
“So I should hang up with him?” the customer asked.
Ms. Battista didn’t realize this, but “Michael” had been listening on the woman’s cellphone the entire time — many criminals in these schemes are known for coaching their victims through their cons.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.