A woman walked into a Citibank branch on Graham Avenue in Williamsburg on October 5 and withdrew $109,000 from a 91-year-old victim's bank account, according to police. The elderly woman had no idea anything was wrong until she showed up at a Citibank branch 11 days later and found her account empty.
The withdrawal took place at the Citibank located at 45 Graham Avenue near Varet Street, according to police accounts reported by Patch. The victim first noticed her account was empty on the afternoon of October 16, when she visited a different branch, the outlet reported. New York City police are now trying to identify the woman accused of draining the six-figure sum, according to ABC7 New York.
The suspect fled the scene immediately after the withdrawal and has not been arrested, per the same Patch report. Investigators have released surveillance images of the woman in hopes that someone can identify her, though it remains unclear how she was able to access the victim's account in the first place — a detail ABC7 New York notes authorities have not resolved.
NYPD Asks Public for Tips
Police are asking anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Spanish speakers can also call 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) to report tips. No arrest has been announced since the theft was reported.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Elder Financial Crimes
The Williamsburg case lands amid a string of similar reports across New York City this fall. In Brooklyn, a thief withdrew $315,741 from a 71-year-old woman's bank accounts through multiple transactions made between July 22 and August 11, with detectives determining the thefts occurred at several Chase banks throughout Queens, according to News 12 Brooklyn.
On Staten Island, police sought a man accused of defrauding a woman of roughly $310,000 after someone falsely claiming to represent Santander Bank's fraud department told her that her account had been compromised, according to SILive.com. That victim was instructed to wire $310,000 to a Bank of America account before Santander canceled an additional attempted wire transfer of $447,200; police have since identified the wanted individual as 34-year-old Luis Irahera. A separate Brooklyn case involved two unauthorized withdrawals totaling $16,300 from a 61-year-old woman's Citibank account at a Cypress Hills branch, per News 12 Brooklyn.
Billions Lost Nationwide to Elder Fraud
The Justice Department pursued nearly 350 criminal and civil enforcement actions involving elder fraud or abuse between July 2025 and June 2026, according to FOX 5 New York. Those cases involved 712 defendants accused of stealing or attempting to steal approximately $4.84 billion from more than 711,000 victims, with about 96% of the cases criminal in nature and 45% involving international schemes, the outlet reported.
State regulators have flagged financial exploitation as the most common form of elder mistreatment reported in New York, affecting 42 out of 1,000 older residents, according to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. A separate study cited by federal regulators estimated annual losses from elder financial exploitation nationwide at $28.3 billion, according to the National Credit Union Administration. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency lists sudden, unusual withdrawals from a bank account as a key warning sign of elder exploitation.
Citibank itself has faced legal scrutiny over its handling of fraud complaints. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the bank in 2024, alleging it failed to protect fraud victims and refused to reimburse them, according to the New York State Office of the Attorney General. For now, the Williamsburg case remains open, with investigators still working to identify the woman seen in the surveillance images and determine how she gained access to the victim's funds.
