The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

 

[Suzanne rose]

Wow...of course he does.
It needs to be made mandatory for banks to have staff on 24 /7 to deal with these sort of emergencies

 

[constance]

The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

Disgusting. I would hope the bank had his money insured and consequently refunds the money. As for the bank, I would take my money elsewhere , they certainly don't provide any service.

 

[Penny4]

It's dreadful how hard working people are getting roped into these scams. Very sad for him.

 

[Panred]

The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

Maybe if all banks could have a 24 hour holding period for all withdrawals done online on large amounts of money. We check our bank balance every morning. Maybe this would cut down on a lot of these scams being successful.

 

[MickyD1112]

Wow...of course he does.
It needs to be made mandatory for banks to have staff on 24 /7 to deal with these sort of emergencies

Disgusting. I would hope the bank had his money insured and consequently refunds the money. As for the bank, I would take my money elsewhere , they certainly don't provide any service.

MickyD
Unfortunately contacting Banks seems to be a problem for them the two banks I use there phone systems are useless,one I was on hold for 2hrs 15 min I took a screenshot,to show the branch who’s peoples were also online & phone for 30 mins to get in touch with their fraud dept ,banking now seems to be an arduous task if you need something done quickly.

 

[Sass]

The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

Mr Chan has every right to be upset with Ubank. There should be a 24 hour customer line for fraud cases, had there been, the transaction may have been stopped. Some sympathy & understanding could have been shown to him by the bank once he finally did get through to them.

 

["Flash"]

The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

Absolutely has the right to be upset!
It's not just the banking fraternity that should be providing some sort of "out of hours" security but other forms of financial institution should also!
I personally have had difficulty in the past with my bank (NAB) when things have gone pear shaped with on line transactions "out of hours"

 

[vbulaon]

this is a good reminder to install two step authentications to bank accounts, if your bank doesn't provide this service, it's time to move on to one that does. If members don't know how to do this, please reach out to your bank for assistance. Remember to only contact the bank through their official website contact details. I never pay attention to bank SMS, emails and phone calls. Best to deal with them direct by you contacting them through channels described above.

 

[Suzanne rose]

MickyD
Unfortunately contacting Banks seems to be a problem for them the two banks I use there phone systems are useless,one I was on hold for 2hrs 15 min I took a screenshot,to show the branch who’s peoples were also online & phone for 30 mins to get in touch with their fraud dept ,banking now seems to be an arduous task if you need something done quickly.

I'm seeing this alot with U Bank

 

[Ricci]

Am I the lone voice in praise of UBank? I must admit I haven't had to contact them often but when I have I have found them to be very courteous and helpful. I do not however have any banking apps on my phone and when using my laptop always make a point of logging out and not merely closing the window as this ensures there is no open portal to my banking details. As you open the logging in page there is a written warning of email and phone scams, telling you to be extra vigilant, what number to call and where to send a copy of any suspicious notices received. I don't think they could do much more to warn folk.

 

[Staffordshire Whippet]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if a Bank has no branches you can storm, faces you can get into, brains you can reason with, hearts you can appeal to or arses you can kick, IT'S NOT A REAL BANK.

 

[ShannyN]

This is starting to happen a lot esp. with Ubank. It shouldn't be able to register another device on an account so easily or have no way to contact them out of hours.

I'm with the parent group NAB, while all i have in the bank at any one time is a pension which drains real quick trying to survive, if anything untoward goes on I can contact and report creating a record even if I cannot speak to a person at the time.

I had a few hundred dollars worth of stuff purchased by someone in UK 18 mths ago, I check my accounts often and got an email from a company I had dealt with years before (given credit card details) congratulating me on the purchase etc.

Sent bank an email, used internal messaging system as well to alert and put a hold on the account. went into the branch with all the records I found on the company etc. resolved in a few days.

Good outcome but the stress and shock of the issue was bad you feel violated and angry. Ubank should be charged with incompetence and the victim compensated financially.

 

[Macarj]

The bank should be accountable for that because they contacted the customer for approval but he couldn't contact them it should be their cost

 

[Macarj]

Absolutely has the right to be upset!
It's not just the banking fraternity that should be providing some sort of "out of hours" security but other forms of financial institution should also!
I personally have had difficulty in the past with my bank (NAB) when things have gone pear shaped with on line transactions "out of hours"

I never have trouble with ANZ they have stopped many withdrawals for me

 

[NotNats]

The Banks don't care if you have lost money via a scam. They were no help and I have never seen any of my money back and that was nearly 3 yrs ago.

 

[DrivingGirl]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if a Bank has no branches you can storm, faces you can get into, brains you can reason with, hearts you can appeal to or arses you can kick, IT'S NOT A REAL BANK.

I never have trouble with ANZ they have stopped many withdrawals for me

Me too - I fell victim to the ‘Hello Mum’ scam, SO convincing! They got all my money back for me / can’t fault them

 

[barbaranne]

Am I the lone voice in praise of UBank? I must admit I haven't had to contact them often but when I have I have found them to be very courteous and helpful. I do not however have any banking apps on my phone and when using my laptop always make a point of logging out and not merely closing the window as this ensures there is no open portal to my banking details. As you open the logging in page there is a written warning of email and phone scams, telling you to be extra vigilant, what number to call and where to send a copy of any suspicious notices received. I don't think they could do much more to warn folk.

The complaint here is not about Ubank on the whole, but on their lack of an after hours service that can be accessed in cases of emergencies that occur out of business hours.

 

[Riorita]

The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

DEFINATELY....alas companies are having ROBOTS and they are useless might as well be talking a different language....they are given certain sentences to say.....and you end up frustrated not being a HUMAN BEING

 

[Hrynpa]

The last thing we want is to have our savings hacked and our financial security destroyed in an instant.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to one Melbourne man, Sze Chan, who had almost $20,000 of his savings (that he had worked hard to accumulate over several years) drained from his account in a matter of minutes.

Mr Chan had been a customer of the online bank Ubank for quite some time, but he always felt safe and secure in the knowledge that his money was in good hands.

However, it took just one bad evening for that to all be ripped away from him.

On the evening of December 6, Mr Chan received a notification that a new device had been connected to his Ubank account. Three minutes later, a staggering $19,900 was taken from his savings account.

A screenshot of the notification that Mr Chan received about the new device that was added to his bank account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

He said he hadn't requested the device addition so he called the bank right away to confirm the unusual activity.

Mr Chan added that at 9 pm, which was after the customer service line's working hours, he called every number on the website to see if anyone was still working. But sadly, all of his calls went unanswered.

'I tried to contact Ubank on Facebook and Twitter and email them and there was no response,' he recalled, adding that the whole experience was incredibly stressful for him.

'It was surprising that if a crime could happen outside the working hours there was nothing you could do as I had to wait until the next morning and by then, it was too late.'

The following day, Sze called Ubank again and this time he was able to talk to a customer service agent. He was told that the incident would be classified as a disputed transaction and had been sent to the fraud team – but he was still upset by Ubank’s poor customer service.

This text message about a scam warning from Ubank was sent in the same thread as the one informing him of the addition of a new device in Mr Chan's account. Credit: news.com.au/Supplied.

‘It was quite curt and brief so I was kind of surprised about their response. I was hoping for some sort of sympathy and hoping they could explain how this could happen,’ he explained.

‘I think the case was routed to a general query line, so there wasn't much the person could do aside from just raising a case. It was quite disappointing.’

Additionally, he shared that he was put on hold for three hours just to talk to someone about how 'stressful' the whole situation was before his account was suspended by Ubank.

'It’s quite distressing actually. I was saving up for a car so a lot of that has gone. I’m hoping to recover the money back but it was very stressful trying to get in touch with someone and I couldn't sleep,' Mr Chan said.

'I was pretty anxious and… sad.'

He claimed that the majority of his savings were kept in his Ubank account, so when it was lost, he had almost little money in the bank.

'My salary is paid into a Commbank account and from there I transfer my savings to Ubank so I just have two weeks of money left as all the additional money was the savings in Ubank, so I’m waiting on the next fortnight’s pay,' he continued.

He added that Ubank needs to offer 24/7 customer service to help people in case of fraud. Sze has stated he won’t remain a customer of Ubank, once the whole case is resolved.

A Ubank spokesperson released a statement to the media about the supposed incident. It read: ‘We have alerted customers impacted by this scam via text, the App messaging, social media channels and on our website,’

‘The SMS claims to be Ubank. Anyone who receives this SMS should not click on any links, send the SMS to +61 476 220 003 and delete it immediately. Ubank will never SMS you asking for banking details.’

‘Our Security team is working hard to prevent this scam from impacting our customers. We encourage customers to remain vigilant.’

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne man lost almost $20,000 in mere minutes.
• He was faced with a number of obstacles while trying to get in contact with Ubank and reported the incident to the police.
• Ubank's customer service was curt and unhelpful, leaving Mr Chen feeling anxious and frustrated.
• Ubank has informed its customers about a phishing scam that may be related to Mr Chen's case.

Members, if this ever happens to you, contact the customer service department of your bank immediately. Be sure to check their hours of operation though, and remember that if you need to report something out of hours, your local police station is likely to be open to taking your report.

Above all, remain vigilant – your hard-earned savings could be at risk at any time, as this unfortunate story shows.

What are your thoughts on this shocking case? Do you think Mr Chan has the right to be upset over the lack of service from the bank? Let us know in the comments below.

Not a good bank to deal with I think he should move to a reputable bank in Australia