SWFL.io - Local NewsWINK Investigates Reporter Olivia Jean, Photographer & Editor Antonella Pena
•9/3/2026
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) — Owen Medlock says he gets scam calls and texts almost every day.
At 88 years old, he thought he knew what to look for.
“If you don't have any idea what the call is or what the text is, just ignore it and delete it,” Medlock said.
But in June, one scammer was convincing enough to get him inside his bank, ready to withdraw nearly all the money from his account.
The people on the other end of the phone knew personal details about him, including where he lived. They convinced Medlock that his money had been compromised and needed to be moved to another bank.
“They said, ‘You need to go to your bank, which was this bank, take all your money out, and put it in another bank because there's a lot of stuff going on,’” Medlock said.
Medlock went to the Fifth Third Bank off Cape Coral Parkway West — a bank where he has been a customer since 1997.
He was prepared to withdraw all but $500 from his accounts.
“I said something about withdrawing all of my cash, and they kind of looked at me kind of silly,” Medlock said. “Like I said, ‘Hmm, I don't think I really want to do that, do I?’”
The answer from the bank was clear.
“‘No, you don't, because if you do, you walk out of here, you'll never see it again,’” Medlock recalled.
Medlock said he had considered taking the money to another bank, but something about the situation did not feel right.
“I was thinking that doesn't sound right, and it didn't,” he said.
Brittany Kline-Hartman, a personal banker at Fifth Third Bank, began asking Medlock questions.
The first red flag, she said, was the amount of money he wanted to withdraw.
“He wants to withdraw everything but $500 out of his accounts, so that's like the first red flag that you notice,” Kline-Hartman said.
Then she noticed something else. Medlock did not know exactly how much money he had in his accounts.
“He didn't know how much he had in his accounts,” Kline-Hartman said. “I'm like, ‘Well, I need you to tell me the amount that you want to withdraw?’ Once again, it's just a red flag.”
Kline-Hartman said she tries to ask customers questions conversationally when something about a transaction raises concerns.
“Are you doing this on your own free will?” she said. “That's a question I like to ask because it makes people think. Like, am I doing this because I want to do this?”
Then Medlock revealed another warning sign. The people on the phone had told him not to trust his bank or its bankers.
“So that was from that point we're like, okay, ripped up the withdrawal slip,” Kline-Hartman said. “We're not doing this transaction.”
There was another detail Medlock initially did not realize would become one of the biggest red flags.
The scammers were still on the phone while he was inside the bank. They were in his pocket, listening to the conversation.
Kline-Hartman said that is a tactic she has seen before.
“They tell him what to say, like when they come into the bank, and they'll stay on the phone,” she said.
She said some customers have even walked into banks wearing AirPods while scammers coached them through what to say and do. The goal, she said, is often to create fear and urgency.
“They make it really believable,” Kline-Hartman said. “They use fear. They scare the customers. They make it really seem like their money is unsafe.”
Medlock said the scammers knowing where he lived made their story seem more believable.
Kline-Hartman said scammers can often find personal information online.
“A lot of addresses, phone numbers, names — it's all public information, stuff you can find online,” she said.
Medlock's close call comes as reported losses from internet crime involving older Americans continue to rise.
According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center's 2025 Annual Report, people 60 and older filed 201,266 complaints and reported nearly $7.75 billion in losses in 2025. That represented a 59% increase in reported losses from 2024.
The FBI reported that investment fraud, tech and customer support scams, confidence and romance scams, business email compromise and government impersonation schemes were among the crime types causing the greatest reported losses for people 60 and older.
The FBI's IC3 encourages potential victims of cyber-enabled fraud to report the crime and preserve records, including emails, text messages, receipts and financial transaction information.
For Medlock, the conversation with Kline-Hartman meant he walked out of the bank without losing his money.
He now has simple advice for others who receive suspicious calls or messages: do not engage unless you can independently verify who is contacting you.
“If you don't have any idea what the call is or what the text is, just ignore it and delete it,” Medlock said.
Kline-Hartman also has a message for customers who are unsure whether a call is legitimate.
“Just hang up, take a deep breath, and call again,” she said.
For Kline-Hartman, stopping Medlock's transaction reinforced why asking a few extra questions can matter.
“Anything I can do to keep my customers safe, their money safe,” she said.
The FBI also provides elder fraud resources and encourages victims and potential victims to report suspected fraud through the Internet Crime Complaint Center. FBI IC3 Elder Fraud Resources
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