The Rev. Robert Banzin had saved up about $61,000, which he planned to use to replace his 20-year-old car and pay for medication and other expenses. But these plans are now on hold.
The 85-year-old retired Catholic priest was robbed of his life savings in a financial scam, which friends and colleagues, who say he’s a “wonderful” and “positive” influence, are helping replenish through fundraising.
Experts warned that these types of scams are common among senior citizens and shared tips to help avoid it.
“I just felt totally abused,” Banzin said. “This is my money; I worked all my life for it.”
Banzin said the ordeal started on Aug. 17 when he received an email from what he thought was PayPal, telling him there was a $699 charge on his account from eBay. Knowing this charge was “ridiculous,” Banzin contacted a PayPal support phone number he found online. Instead of the online payment company, he said he accidentally contacted a group of fraudsters.
“They said, ‘We’re investigators, I’ll put you with an investigator from PayPal,’” Banzin said. “They sort of dragged me in, sucked me in. (They said) they’re going to help me stop the hackers from getting at my money in the bank and online, and they’re going to do this with their specialists. They became my friends.”
Over the course of about a week and a half, Banzin said he was convinced to first send a wire transfer, a form of payment that is nearly untraceable, before handing over his bank account information. He said large amounts of money started disappearing from his account, eventually totaling more than $61,000.
He said he reported the fraud to his bank, the FBI and the Chicago police, but he learned that it’s unlikely he’ll ever get his money back or that these agencies will catch the people responsible. He also retained an attorney. The Chicago police said detectives are investigating the case.
“I’m very angry at myself, but the police and lawyer were telling me, ‘No, you are a victim, you are a victim, and warn other people not to become victims,’” he said.
Mallory Moreno, the president of the Illinois Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, said scams targeting senior citizens — or people about 60 or older — are very common, often because they may not be as tech savvy or may have more money saved up.
In 2022, there were 88,262 victims over the age of 60 of internet-related fraud and $3.1 billion in losses, according to the FBI’s Elder Fraud Report, marking an 84% increase in losses compared with 2021. The most common type of fraud, the FBI found, is tech and customer support schemes, like the one Banzin experienced. But even these numbers are likely an undercount, Moreno said.
“They’re so embarrassed and hurt that it happened that they’d rather just move on and forget about it and not talk about it,” she said.
Scammers are also getting more sophisticated, Moreno said. The most frequent tricks she sees among her older clients are sweepstakes or lottery scams, which involve a fraudster contacting someone via phone, email or flyers in the mail, telling them that they won or could be entered to win a prize if they pay a fee.
Phone calls are where many scams start, Moreno said. Scammers often claim to be from the Internal Revenue Service or Social Security Administration and tell people they need to give their information “right away” to avoid a tax penalty, she said. Some scammers also say the senior’s grandchild is arrested or in an emergency, and they need to wire money to help them, Moreno said.
Common “scammer language” involves negative ramifications, such as “If you don’t click this link by this date, you will lose XYZ” or “There’s a problem with your subscription, we’re not going to be able to send you orders,” Moreno said. Even if an email or text message looks legitimate, the sender often isn’t from the company they claim to represent, she said.
“I always tell clients and family don’t click that stuff. If it’s telling you if you don’t click you will suffer such and such, that’s such a good sign that this is a scam,” she said. “It’s OK to do your due diligence and not provide it. Who is calling? Why are they calling?”
The faster a fraud alert is made, the better, Moreno said. If someone gives out their information, Moreno recommends immediately calling the bank or credit card company so they can lock their account or cancel their card. She said it’s a good idea that caregivers check for unusual spending or large withdrawals.
Speaking with an attorney and making a report to law enforcement about the fraud can be helpful, but Moreno said money is usually difficult or impossible to recover with these schemes.
When Deacon Randy Belice heard about what happened to Banzin, he knew he wanted to help in some way. So he started a GoFundMe a couple of weeks ago that’s raised more than $28,000, as of Tuesday afternoon.
Belice works at St. Paul VI Parish in Riverside, where Banzin is a weekend presider. But he’s known Banzin for about 20 years. When he was a parishioner, Belice said, he admired Banzin’s homilies touching on social justice and relating Scripture to everyday life, helping inspire Belice’s development as a deacon.
“One of the consistent themes that Father Banzin has preached is that we are all, regardless of who we are, we are beloved by God because we are all his beloved creation,” Belice said.
Belice said his messages continue to inspire people today, and that Banzin has a dedicated following at St. Paul VI Parish. Banzin worked as a priest with the Archdiocese of Chicago for more than 40 years before retiring. He also taught history at a seminary.
Banzin said that he can still make ends meet with Social Security and the pension he receives from the archdiocese, but that with minimal savings, paying for taxes and a new car will be challenging.
He said the support from the GoFundMe comes with mixed emotions, but that he hopes sharing his story will help others not fall victim to similar scams.
“I’m a person that does not like to ask for things, and I find it difficult to accept this goodness of people for some reason — it’s my problem,” he said. “But I’m overwhelmed with the generosity of people.”