SOUTH HADLEY, MA (WGGB/WSHM/Gray News) – An 84-year-old South Hadley woman claims she was scammed out of nearly all her life savings. She has now turned to Western Mass News for help since her bank seemingly refused to. Despite doing everything she and her family can to get the money back, banks have found a loophole that keeps them off the hook when it comes to most scams, but legislation is currently on the table to change that.
In July, Madeline Slade got a text asking if she authorized a payment to Geico, then a call from “Jordan” purporting to be with the Bank of America fraud department. For five hours, Madeline was tricked into disclosing private bank information, thinking she was verifying transactions. Her daughter, Sharon, even sat-in on the call. “Sophisticated, very professional, and so there wasn’t anything initially, obviously, that clued us into that this was not an actual Bank of America fraud representative,” Sharon Slade explained.
“So, $20,000 was taken out. It turned out it went down to South Carolina and then from there, it went to somebody, who is in prison in Florida,” Madeline Slade added.
Since July, Sharon, Madeline, and Madeline’s son, Mark, have gone to multiple bank branches, have spent countless hours on the phone with fraud representatives, and have sent more than a dozen letters to Bank of America.
“We’ve been going back and forth with them and trying to get some kind of an answer. You know, you talk to somebody at Bank of America, they go ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to check into it, yes, this makes sense’ and so forth and then three, four weeks later, get another denial letter,” Madeline Slade explained.
Madeline was eventually repaid the two $3,000 transfers and a $55 Zaxby’s meal. If those transactions are fraudulent, what about the $20,000? “To give me back that, but not to follow through on the wire transfer is just mind boggling,” Madeline Slade noted.
Why did Bank of America deny the claim? “It basically said it fits the general practices of my mom’s banking behavior. I’m not quoting that language. I don’t have the letters in front of me. The challenge is my mom has never done a wire transfer,” said Mark Slade.
After trying local lawmakers, lawyers, area police, the Federal Trade Commission, even the FBI, seemingly no one could help Madeline. The last place the Slades thought to turn to was our newsroom. “You name it, between Mark and Sharon, my children, we have tried everything, everything. We never heard back from Richie Neal, we never heard from Ed Markey,” said Madeline Slade.
We reached out to Bank of America for comment on December 19. It wasn’t until January 24 that we got a statement which reads, in part: “In cases like Ms. Slade’s, we attempt to recover the stolen funds from the receiving account, but there is no guarantee once the client has authorized the payment.”
After lots of digging, we found out why it’s been dead end after dead end and why Bank of America is legally not liable. In July 2024, a U.S. Senate subcommittee questioned the three biggest owners of Zelle – JPMorganChase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. “You do the absolute minimum required by law,” said U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Led by Blumenthal, subcommittee members pressed on failures to protect consumers from fraud. “…But what is most striking to me is the unauthorized claims, that is to say losses without consent or approval by the customer, were reimbursed only 38% of the time, which is down by 62% in 2019. Those claims are required to be reimbursed,” he added.
On August 2nd, the Protecting Consumers from Payment Scams Act was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives, co-authored by Blumenthal and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. If passed, it would put more guardrails on the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which currently does not require banks to reimburse customers tricked by scammers. Right now, the bill awaits the House Committee on Financial Services. “We will be preparing, as well, for the next steps. We hope you’ll cooperate. We sincerely hope you would be good on the promises you make in the testimony,” Blumenthal said.
Meantime, as the Slades continue fighting for the $20,000, they want to make sure other Bay Staters don’t bank on their money being protected, even if you’re a victim and even if it’s your life savings.
Copyright 2025 WGGB via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.