Wells Fargo employee is being accused of stealing, draining account of deceased 90-something woman — here’s how the niece figured it out. Could you?

The victim, Bernadette Richardson, died in 2023. It wasn’t until her brother began sorting through her finances that the family noticed irregular withdrawals. His daughter Leah Dieringer said the discovery came after she reviewed bank statements tied to the estate.

"My dad was in charge of all of her estate," Dieringer told KGW8 News. "After she passed away, my dad was able to get all of her banking information sent to him. He hands me the statements, and I see this name Brittany McLaughlin attached to it. I'm like, what is this name? He's like, I have no idea who that is."

The discovery

When Dieringer combed through her late aunt’s bank statements, she spotted repeated payments for car loans, insurance, utilities, PayPal transfers and cash withdrawals — none of which had anything to do with her aunt’s life.

Although Wells Fargo eventually reimbursed the family about $13,000, the bank hadn’t flagged the suspicious activity as a concern at the time.

Prosecutors say McLaughlin used Richardson’s personal information to make more than a dozen fraudulent transactions over several months. Dieringer said she believes her aunt’s information was first compromised when she called Wells Fargo for help with online banking and the employee on the other end took advantage.

“To find out that someone had taken this money from someone who was older, just took advantage of them, it's horrific," Dieringer said.

The case highlights a larger problem: financial fraud against seniors is on the rise. Older Americans are often targeted because they tend to be more trusting, financially stable and less likely to spot irregularities in their accounts.

According to the FBI, seniors reported $4.8 billion in losses to scams in 2024.

"Every number in this report represents a real person, a victim whose trust was betrayed, whose financial security was compromised and whose voice deserves to be heard," said Christopher Delzotto, section chief of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, during a conference call.