An 89-year-old Memphis woman is suing Regions Financial Corp. after it allowed her to wire two large sums of money to men she characterized as family in Hong Kong.

The suit alleges bank employees did not do enough to ascertain why she was sending nearly all her life’s savings to overseas accounts.

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Because they did not, the bank “substantially assisted” in the fraud, the suit says.

When made aware, the bank’s security officer, based at the main Regions branch, 6200 Poplar Ave., failed to recall the transfer within the allotted time.

Maureen Rosenblum lost $120,000 in a scheme that started with a message that her computer had been hacked.

She is suing Regions for its return and at least $500,000 in mental and emotional distress, plus punitive damages in a jury trial.

The suit was filed in circuit court here on Nov. 28.

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“While we do not comment on pending litigation, we can share that our priority every day is helping customers conduct the transactions they request while making them aware of the risks of fraud,” Regions said in a statement.

“Regions also makes fraud prevention information available online to anyone, regardless of whether they are customers of the bank.”

Rosenblum is represented by attorney Marc Reisman.

On Nov. 29, 2022, Rosenblum, then 88, saw a message on her home computer. She called the number on the screen and was told by a man named “Josh,” who represented himself as an employee of Microsoft’s fraud division, that she needed to wire $95,000 to the account of a man named Mak Kin Man in Hong Kong to protect her savings from theft.

According to the suit, Rosenblum shared confidential financial details with Josh. He advised her to tell bank officials that the money was needed for family medical issues and would be deposited in an account belonging to her brother-in-law. She was told not to discuss the matter with anyone.

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She transferred the money from investments to her Regions checking account. When she went to the teller’s window in the main Regions branch to make the transaction, the suit says no bank employee asked questions. Rosenblum, the suit says, had never transferred money by wire in her life.

On Dec. 1, 2022, at Josh’s request, Rosenblum made a second transfer of $25,000 at the same Regions branch to a different man and account in Hong Kong, also purportedly a relative.

This time, the Regions teller asked the bank’s security officer to look into the issue, including the first transfer made two days earlier.

The security officer called Rosenblum at home. She told him she had a family member in Hong Kong with a medical emergency. He approved the second transfer.

Both exceeded the U.S. Department of Treasury $10,000 threshold for wire transfers, triggering bank employees to file a currency transaction report, “invoking the scrutiny of Regions management,” according to the suit.

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On Saturday, Dec. 3, a visibly shaken Rosenblum told her son about the transfers, according to the suit. He contacted the bank’s security officer and asked him to immediately recall the transfers. The security officer said he would respond “first thing on Monday.”

Regions made the request Monday afternoon, according to the suit, which was Tuesday morning in Hong Kong.

By that time, the 72-hour window for recalling the second transfer had closed.

The plaintiff says that if the bank had not been negligent in providing adequate safeguards and acting on their clients’ behalf, the second transfer would not have happened and the first could have been recalled.

Several mechanisms are available for recalling international wire transfers of $50,000 or more, including the Financial Fraud Kill Chain, formed by the FBI.

In order to initiate the FFKC, banks must provide local FBI details, including incident summary, victim information, beneficiary names and account numbers.

“We’ve heard about upticks in online scams,” said Shelia Terrell, president, CEO/COO of RISE Foundation, which helps low-income youth, adults and seniors with financial literacy and ways they can develop financial assets. 

“There’s nothing new on the horizon. It’s Christmastime and all that goes along with these scoundrels trying to take advantage of people.”