I have a client who just got a call from a "former participant" requesting to cash out his profit sharing plan account balance.
However, the caller (1) mispronounced the participant's name, (2) lacked an accent even though the participant had a heavy accent, and (3) didn't seem to know the person he was talking to, even though she had worked with the participant for 20 years.
She's "nearly 100%" sure the person she spoke to is therefore NOT the participant. She suspects it may be his adult son.
Where do we go from here? My initial thought was to ask the caller to come to the client's office to sign benefit election paperwork in person, although I really don't like the idea of inviting the imposter into my client's place of business.
I'm now leaning towards "requiring" that the forms be signed in the presence of a notary, then scrutinizing the signed forms (if he returns them) and reporting to EBSA if necessary.
Anyone dealt with something like this?
