An Escondido retiree says he lost $177,000 to an international investment scam over six months, leaving him in debt and looking for work during the years he expected to spend retired.
The 77-year-old man, identified only as Tom, told NBC7 Responds that the investment opportunity seemed legitimate at first because he had already done real business online with people in other countries.
He kept sending money as the pressure grew. By the time he realized the investment was a scam, the savings he had built over decades were gone.
Now he is asking why the transfers were able to keep moving after his normal banking pattern changed from a few thousand dollars a month to tens of thousands.
The Transfers No Longer Looked Like His Usual Banking
Tom told NBC7 his regular monthly activity had usually been around $2,000 to $3,000 before the scam. During the six months he was sending money, the amounts jumped to $30,000, $40,000, and $60,000.
Looking back, he said he sees warning signs he missed at the time. The scam kept him paying because walking away felt like accepting that the money already sent was gone.
"If you pulled out now, you'd lose all that you have invested. So the pressure was on to see this through," Tom told NBC7.
Tom said a Chase teller did ask early on whether he might be sending money to a scam.
He dismissed the concern because he believed the payments were tied to a real business investment. Chase declined to discuss Tom's specific case with NBC7, but said in a statement that branch staff are trained to detect and assist customers who may be getting scammed.
The bank also told the station that customers have a right to access their money. That becomes a hard line in scams where the account holder is the one walking into a branch, authorizing a wire, or insisting the transfer is legitimate.
Tom said his partner had a different experience when she tried to send money through San Diego County Credit Union so they could keep funding the investment.
He told NBC7 that a branch manager brought her into an office and questioned her for about 20 minutes. Nathan Schmidt of San Diego County Credit Union told the station that customers can feel frustrated by that kind of questioning, but the credit union prioritizes fraud prevention.
Schmidt said the institution uses tools including a two-page questionnaire to identify possible scams before money is sent.
"What people don't realize is once the wire is gone, they have sent that money, and it's very difficult to get it back," Schmidt told NBC7.