Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! From all of us at New Tripoli Bank to all of you, we hope everyone in our community has a lovely and safe holiday with your friends and families.

Maintain Adequate Emergency Funds

Find a Second Income Source

Minimize Your Debts

Maintain Good Health

New Tripoli Bank is pleased to announce the promotion of Jenna Smith to Assistant Vice President.

Jenna has been with New Tripoli Bank for 16 years, starting as a teller and then progressing through the branch network, moving up to Customer Service Representative, IRA Specialist, and Assistant Branch Manager. She was selected to fill the Branch Manager position for the bank’s Claussville office in 2019. Jenna is a certified IRA Services Professional and has completed the PA Bankers School of Banking. She is currently in her second year at the PA Bankers Advanced School of Banking.

New Tripoli Bank thanks Jenna for her dedication to the bank and wishes her continued success in her new position.

The jugger's dodge minivan pulling onto the street.

On November 18th around 11 AM, a bank jugging occurred at the ShopRite on Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem. The female victim, who had just left the Bank of America on Butztown Road and headed to the ShopRite, was followed by the depicted Dodge minivan, which had been parked next to the victim's vehicle at the bank, watching as the victim withdrew a sum of cash and put the envelope in her vehicle's glove box. Once at ShopRite, the person in the Dodge minivan waited for the victim to enter the store before exiting their minivan, smashing the victim's front passenger side window, and stole the envelope.

If anyone has any information relative to this incident, please contact Inv. Fox at (610)-419-9646 or email at efox@bethlehemtwp.com

This criminal act is referred to as "bank jugging." A criminal actor watches for people entering and leaving banks until they notice someone who they suspect has left the bank with cash on them. The actor then follows that person to their next location, before proceeding to take the money by force or breaking into the individual's car or home to steal the unattended cash.

The FBI offers several tips to avoid becoming a victim of bank jugging:

• Be on the lookout for individuals backed into parking spaces who do not exit their vehicle to conduct business.
• Be vigilant when using ATMs, as juggers typically target individuals using ATMs. However, individuals leaving the branch should exercise caution as they could also be targeted.
• Be vigilant when arriving and departing. Be aware of your surroundings and don’t leave your car or the building if you notice suspicious vehicles parked in or around the parking lot.
• Conceal your money before you leave the bank/credit union.
• Don't openly carry bank bags, envelopes or coin boxes.
• Watch for people following you.
• If you suspect you are being targeted/followed, call 911 and keep the dispatcher on the line to describe your location, where you are headed, etc. and keep driving until a marked police car finds you.
• Never leave a bank bag (hidden or not) in your car unattended.

When You Are Ready

• If you are a Trustee, the estate planning documents will provide you with access to funds for funeral and other death-related expenses.
• If you are a named executor, you will have to wait for court-appointed access to funds, but you should be able to retrieve the decedent's will from the safe deposit box.

Handling Retirement Benefits

Covering Expenses

Caring for Emotional Needs

What To Do When a Family Member Passes

1. Locate any health care powers of attorney, advance health care directives, funeral and burial instructions, etc. and review them for possible instructions about disposal of the body and funeral arrangements.
2. Locate any papers relating to prearranged funeral services or pre-purchased burial plots.
3. If your loved one has served in the U.S. Military, check the website and search for information on Military Honors available at burial such as US Flag and Military Representative.
4. Contact the decedent's banks to see if they have any safe deposit boxes.
5. Locate the original copy of the will or trust, if there is one.
6. Locate all the legal and financial documents that pertain to the deceased person's assets such as deeds, vehicle titles, stocks, bonds and insurance policies.
7. Locate and secure important personal documents such as driver's license, social security card, passport, birth certificate, divorce decree, legal separation agreement, marriage license, military separation papers, citizenship and retirement documents.
8. Maintain a detailed list of all expenses relating to the final care and/or death of the decedent. You will probably be able to obtain reimbursement for these expenses from the decedent's estate or trust, and some of these expenses will be deductible for estate tax or income tax purposes.
9. Contact the deceased person's financial planner, CPA and estate planning attorney. They each need to know and will each have a role in helping you. The attorney will prepare any documents necessary to confirm the authority of the successor trustee of the trust. This will give the trustee access to assets within the trust to cover costs of the funeral and/or other related expenses.
10. Request a minimum of five death certificates from the funeral home. Most life insurance policies and related assets require an original certificate with the claim form.

1. Contact the insurance agent or agency handling each life insurance policy and request death benefit claim forms. If the deceased had a financial planner, they will often do this for you. Note that most insurers will usually cut a check relatively quickly following the death of a loved one. Do not feel compelled to invest this money immediately. Most insurance companies will let you keep the proceeds from a life insurance policy in an interest bearing cash account until you have a plan for investing it. If you know your loved one had a life insurance policy but you cannot find it, contact the American Council of Life Insurers (www.acli.com), which offers guidance in tracing missing policies.
2. Notify all other insurance carriers (i.e., health, long term care, umbrella, disability, accidental death, travel, vehicle, homeowners or renter's insurance).
3. Get a list of all the beneficiaries of the insurance policies with their age, relationship to deceased and their current address and phone number.
4. Contact the deceased's current and past employer(s) to see if any retirement plans or life insurance policies are in place and request the necessary claim forms. Many companies make every attempt to help the families of their employees after a death. They may immediately cut you a check for wages owed, vacation pay, sick pay, and life insurance benefits. If the death was the result of an accident on company time, there may also be accidental death and dismemberment benefits and you will also need to notify Worker's Comp in that instance.
5. Gather all of the decedent's bills and expenses that are coming due, bank and brokerage statements, and last year's tax return.
6. Locate and organize notes regarding assets and liabilities, such as promissory notes, loans, business interests, patents, and royalties.
7. Check with banks and credit card companies to see if there was additional life insurance connected with the decedent's accounts.
8. Contact all of the financial institutions that hold any assets of the deceased. Tell them you need the date of death values on each asset in each account. Ask them to send you a copy of this information. Note the name of the individual assisting you.
9. Locate and secure any items mentioned in a governing document, will or trust or documents of title.

1. Process life insurance claims.
2. Apply for Social Security benefits at 1 (800) 772-1213 (and/or the Veteran's Office at (916) 731-7300 if applicable) and inform them of the death of the individual. Otherwise, you'll be required to pay back any monies overpaid to the decedent. Many times the funeral home will have notified Social Security; confirm this with them.
3. Close credit card accounts and destroy credit cards.
4. Notify banks and brokerage firms and remove the deceased's name from any joint accounts.
5. Meet with the deceased's or your financial advisor, as appropriate, to develop a long-term investment plan for the estate assets, including any life insurance benefits to be received.

• Gather the legal documents (deeds, promissory notes, deeds of trust, loan or real estate documents), estate planning documents (such as wills and trusts), all current and/or past due bills, statements, claims forms, etc., and set up an initial meeting with the fiduciary, CPA and the estate planning attorney to identify what needs to be done and coordinate who will do it.
• Lodge the original will with the court in the county of his/her legal residence.
• Meet with an attorney to determine whether a petition for probate of the will must be filed.
• Begin preparing for filing the estate tax return (Form 706). Some of the forms and documents you have been collecting will be needed by your CPA or attorney to document date of death calculations for that return.
• Your attorney or CPA can assist you with finalizing and understanding any legal documents and/or forms that you have received.
• The fiduciary financial advisor and estate attorney can also assist you with funding the trusts (if applicable) and with making distributions to any beneficiaries.
• The fiduciary financial advisor and CPA can help you make IRA and pension plan election decisions.

Each year older adults lose billions of dollars to financial exploitation. Defined as the illegal or improper use of an older person’s funds, property or assets, elder financial exploitation (EFE) is a devastating crime. It not only impacts an elder’s financial situation, but often takes an emotional toll as well. Victims of such abuse frequently experience intense feelings of fear, depression, anger, and humiliation. In turn, abused elders may be at risk of poorer health outcomes and increased mortality relative to their counterparts.

Fraudsters prey on elders because as a whole, older adults possess more financial assets than other demographics. Seniors tend to own their own homes, have accrued savings over their lifetimes, generally have better credit and tend to be more trusting of others relative to younger populations. Consequently, criminals have engineered specific scams, such as the grandparent scam and other impostor scams, to target America’s elderly.

We have a larger resource page devoted to Elder Financial Exploitation that you can read to help you recognize the warning signs of abuse and provides resources you can use to protect those you feel may be victims of abuse. This article is simply meant to be a resource of the most commonly reported types of elder abuse scams.

Medicare / Health Insurance Scam

Every U.S. citizen over the age of 65 automatically qualifies for Medicare, so scammers do not have to research which health insurance provider they are using. The scam artists pose as Medicare representatives and try to get seniors’ personal information. They may offer services that the senior doesn’t need via the telephone or a “mobile unit” then try to bill Medicare for these fake or unnecessary tests/medications/etc. Seniors may get in trouble with Medicare or even be out money for “co-pays.”

Counterfeit Prescription Drugs

Mostly online scams, the FDA investigates upwards of 20 counterfeit prescription drug scams per year, up from five annually in the 1990s. Not only are seniors losing money on fraudulent prescriptions, but they may also harm themselves by taking unsafe substances rather than their real medication. Cheaper is not always better.

Funeral and Cemetery Scams

Scammers scour the obituaries or funeral home websites and reach out to survivors right before, during or right after the funeral to inform the bereaved family that the deceased owes a debt that was overdue at his/her death and needs to be repaid post haste to prevent besmirching the deceased’s reputation. The scammer plays on the grief of the bereaved family while seemingly being sympathetic. Another situation that can happen is that disreputable funeral homes will take advantage of grieving families who are unfamiliar with the details around funeral costs, adding on unnecessary or fraudulent extras to the bill. They play on the grief of the bereaved family by reassuring them that they want the absolute best for their loved one, including a very expensive casket for a cremation when only a cardboard box is required.

Fraudulent Anti-aging Products

In a society that stigmatizes aging, it is easy to understand why people may fall for scams that offer them the fountain of youth. Many older Americans seek out new treatments and medications to maintain a youthful appearance, putting them on scammers’ radars. Whether it’s the ever-popular fake Botox or fraudulent “homeopathic” remedies that do absolutely nothing, there is big money in the anti-aging business. Botox scams are particularly unsettling, because renegade labs creating versions of the real thing may still be working with the root ingredient, botulism neurotoxin, which is one of the most toxic substances known to science. A bad batch can have serious health consequences. As a result, the consumer may also have to incur unexpected medical expenses to address any adverse effects in addition to paying for the fake Botox.

Telemarketing / Phone Scams

Since many seniors are happy to talk to anyone willing to talk to them, phone scams are highly prevalent. Seniors also are more likely to purchase items over the telephone versus the internet, as a result, there is no paper trail, making these transactions almost impossible to trace. Also, once a scammer is successful with a telemarketing scam, s/he may “share the wealth” by spreading the susceptible senior’s information. There are several types of telemarketing scams including:

• The pigeon drop – scammer tells the senior they found a large sum of money that they are willing to split if the senior will provide a “good faith” payment by withdrawing money from their bank account. Often, there is a second con artist involved who portrays a “trustworthy” participant, such as a lawyer or officer.
• Fake accident – the scammer convinces the senior that a relative or close friend has been in an accident and needs the money for treatment.
• Fake charities – scammers will call seniors soliciting donations for fake charities. Names will be similar to well-known charities to create the belief that they are legitimate. These scams are particularly popular after natural disasters.

Internet Scams

Seniors fall victim to clicking on pop-up windows offering updated virus protection that look legitimate. They are scams that will either require a large sum to “purchase” or that upload an actual virus to the computer that grants the scammer access to personal information. The scammer may even install ransomware and demand a payment to let the senior regain control of their information. Email phishing scams are also popular. Someone pretends to be from their bank, the IRS or some other official entity that needs to verify the personal information of the senior. Seniors may also fall victim to a “Work From Home” money claim from an Internet ad or email. The offer may involve the senior needing to pay for “training” or special “equipment” to begin making the money.

Investment Schemes

When they retire, seniors are often looking for ways to maximize their savings while minimizing risks. Pyramid schemes, such as investment opportunities offered by a fabled Nigerian prince, are simply too good to be true. They are designed to take advantage of people and steal their financial resources. No legitimate investment will require up front money to reap astronomical returns within unrealistic timeframes.

Homeowners / Reverse Mortgage Scams

This encompasses two distinct scams. The first involves a con artist who poses as a tax official offering to reassess the senior’s property for tax purposes. The scam is predicated on the notion that the senior’s tax debt could be lowered. The con artist charges a fee for this “reassessment,” which is fraudulent. The second revolves around pressuring seniors to obtain a reverse mortgage to access the equity in their home. Typically, scammers are lurking to perform “necessary home repairs” to take advantage of the windfall of cash the senior receives from the reverse mortgage. Since real estate generally encompasses a large portion of a senior’s wealth, obtaining a reverse mortgage may effectively become the tool to deplete their largest asset.

Sweepstakes and Lottery Scams

While not limited to seniors, these scams use the lure of free money to convince consumers to divulge sensitive information or send funds to a con artist. Seniors receive a communication via email, mail, phone call or sometimes even in person. They have won a prize from some contest they don’t even remember entering. Before they can get the entire amount, they must deposit a partial amount to “verify” their bank account information. They are then asked to repay that amount to the scammer before the fraudulent check has been returned. By the time the check is returned as a fraud, the scammer is long gone with money they got from the senior.

Impostor Scams

This one seems particularly egregious because it can pull on the heartstrings of the senior involved depending on the persona adopted by the scammer. The scammer may call and pretend to be an IRS agent or from another official entity, such as the local utility company or even their bank. The scammer will then claim that the senior owes money that must be repaid immediately, or charges will be filed. Alternatively, the scammer may try a more personal approach by self-identifying as the senior’s favorite grandchild/niece/nephew/etc., in need of money. It may just be a “loan,” to address an urgent situation like a car repair, late rent, school tuition, or something along those lines. The scammer implores the senior not to tell mom or dad and states that s/he will pay the senior back. The scammer will then provide a Western Union or MoneyGram location to pick up the money.

Check Fraud

There are several variations of check fraud. The senior may write a check to someone, and that person alters the amount or orders checks with a new address to write fraudulent checks. Blank checks could be stolen and forged for any amount, or scammers could ask the senior for help “clearing” a check because s/he does not have a local bank account but needs the money quickly. The senior deposits the fraudulent check and writes one to the scammer. By the time the check is returned, the scammer and the money are long gone. The scammer may also write checks of larger and larger amounts with the senior until they get the amount they want, and then disappear.

Automate Your Bills

Go Paperless

Consolidate Accounts

Use One Credit Card

Pay Down Debt

Set Savings to Automatic

Focus on Important Goals

Conclusion

Build a Foundation for Your Budget

Reassess Your Long-Term Savings Goals

Conclusion