I bank at BECU. They only have a couple distant branches with actual money inside. All the neighborhood branches are ATM machines plus staff sitting around at desks.
That might work for you and the person advocating it. But how many hypothetical “little old ladies” would be buying a boat? If I were a teller, I’d ask what kind of boat.
I’ve encountered this before, and I get it. It’s to prevent me from being scammed.
When I’ve asked my bank for a draft in an outrageous amount, I’m always asked who they should make it payable to.
They relax when they hear that I’m using the draft to buy a new car from XYZ dealership or home repairs from ABC contractors. Those are legitimate well-known local businesses. I’m sure they would have further questions if I named an individual, or an unknown business.
Another common one is targeting people of the scammer’s own heritage or ethnicity. The target thinks that no one like them will scam them.
It’s not necessary to lose one’s marbles to become a victim. Plenty of intelligent and sane people fall for these scams. The people running them are very, very good at what they do.
BTW, I’m sure it’s bank policy to ask, but it’s it’s not clear to me that they wouldn’t give you the money if you just said, “thank you for asking, I’ll take the money now.”
The last time I had to get a big pile of cash out of the bank, I was kind of nervous about it myself, because I knew it looked suspicious, so I told the teller before I was even asked that the auto mechanic preferred cash.
Maybe not if it’s an elderly person looking agitated and terrified.
“A powerful one so I can go waterskiing, sonny”
I remember two crime cases involving murder the families held captive in their homes where a family member was escorted to their bank and made to withdrawal large amount of money. Thousands of dollars. They didn’t reveal their dire predicament to any bank personnel for fear of reprisal to their families. I doubt they presented a calm demeanor while withdrawing a large sum. But what more could a bank teller do?
Oh, of course. I was tailoring my answer to Chefguy. But you’re right, I’ve seen numerous articles by people who work in tech reporting who fall for scams.
I would be glad my bank is checking things like that to make sure it’s not a scam, too many people just send money without thinking who they are actually sending it too.
That happened in a 2007 home invasion murder in Cheshire, Connecticut. The wife of the household was taken to their bank to withdraw $15,000 while her husband and two daughters were at home with the second perpetrator, though in this case, she told the bank teller that her family was being held hostage.
Not that it did her any good, sadly.
The story still haunts me, particularly the detail that the local police putzed around outside “establishing a perimeter” while the wife and daughters were being raped and murdered.
Such a heinous crime, that poor mom, taking a risk and waiting on help that never arrives.
The other event was the DC mansion murders. D.C. mansion murders - Wikipedia. The dad has 40k delivered to the house by his assistant who is assured by the dad all is well. then the family is killed.
Two daughters were away at the time left to pick up the pieces.
True,
I usually buy gift cards for Christmas presents for my nephew and nieces and their kids. The place I buy them have a policy of a maximum of 5 cards per transaction. Every year they just tell me this and put it through as 2 or 3 separate transactions. I have no idea how this improves security. (Maybe if it wasn’t December and I was older they would ask more questions)
What place, out of curiosity? Not Home Depot I assume? And can I assume the amounts are not that high?
Asda, a UK supermarket, they have not only their own gift cards but also gift cards for things like Amazon, books (from any book retailer), clothing stores and cinema (movie theatre) chains. (I just find it convenient to buy them with my groceries)
Amounts are not that high typically I get about 10 cards for £25 (~$30) each. Cards available are usually in the £10-£100 range (possibly higher) but I have been told the maximum is 5 cards, it doesn’t seem to depend on the value at all.
Most large stores in the US, no matter what their primary business, have a rack somewhere of all kinds of gift cards, including other stores, restaurants, online services like Amazon, Itunes, and Google Play, etc. You won’t usually see a store’s direct competitors (so, no Whole Foods gift cards in Giant Eagle), but other than that, pretty much all of them.