A New York senior citizen lost nearly $285,000 to a scam after his funds were transferred to cryptocurrency; he subsequently sued Charles Schwab.

George Chryssanthou, an 80-year-old New York resident, was scammed out of nearly $285,000 and has filed an arbitration claim against Charles Schwab with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). On January 17, 2025, scammers impersonating "Microsoft technical support" contacted Chryssanthou, remotely controlling his computer under the pretext of fixing a software problem and claiming his account had been hacked. The scammers then tricked the victim into providing verification codes, transferring funds in installments over several days to an account named "Coinbase Inc" at Cross River Bank in New Jersey, ranging from $18,000 to $90,000, totaling $284,650, which was then immediately converted to cryptocurrency and transferred. The victim only discovered the balance was zero when he logged into his account on January 29. After the FBI intervened, they informed the victim that the chances of recovering the funds were extremely low. In September 2025, Chryssanthou, through lawyer Adam Gana, filed a claim against FINRA, accusing Charles Schwab of failing to fulfill his oversight responsibilities, including failing to verify and intercept unusually frequent wire transfers and suspicious receiving accounts. (Business Insider)