Bank's shocking move leaves 72 yo victim with $24k loss—‘It broke my heart’
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A shocking breach of security left one Australian man fighting to reclaim his life savings—an incident that exposed serious flaws in the way banks handle fraud.
What began as a routine online issue quickly spiralled into a devastating loss, and the victim’s struggle to recover his funds has raised difficult questions about customer protection.
What happened next has left many questioning the reliability of the systems meant to safeguard our money.
In a devastating turn of events, Brendan McKean, 72, found himself on the phone with his bank while an online scammer was draining his savings.
Despite the bank placing a ‘lock’ on his account, the hacker managed to steal thousands more, leaving McKean without his life savings.
The toll was immense, with McKean also losing his wife of 43 years, Ann, just two weeks later, while still fighting to reclaim the stolen money.
In July 2023, McKean received a warning from Microsoft via his laptop about a virus.
Following the instructions, he called the number provided, where the person guided him to install Anydesk, a legitimate program for remote access.
Having used remote access previously, McKean didn’t suspect any foul play, thinking it was routine.
The situation quickly escalated as McKean began receiving alerts of transactions on his phone while still speaking to the scammer.
He immediately rang Bendigo Bank on his landline for help.
At 3.29 pm, the bank manually locked McKean’s account to prevent further log-ins, but by 3.31 pm, $4900 had already been transferred out.
The fraud block was only applied at 3.39 pm.
The McKean family has been vocal in their support of People Before Profit, advocating for mandatory compensation for scam victims—an initiative already implemented in the UK.
In October 2022, the UK introduced legislation making it compulsory for banks to compensate victims of fraud within five business days unless there is gross negligence.
McKean ended up losing $24,300 in total, with the bank holding him responsible for the loss.
‘They believed everything I told them apart from the fact that I didn’t give the scammers my password,’ McKean said.
‘I never stored my password on the computer…I had the Commonwealth Bank and my superannuation on the computer and neither of those sites were hacked. No money was missing from them–there was no attempt to get into those accounts.’
The impact was devastating. McKean had to borrow $5000 from his son, Gareth, and daughter-in-law, Megan, to pay for Ann’s funeral.
‘$5000 was taken from his account after the bank had supposedly blocked it,’ Megan McKean explained.
‘However, he is apparently not entitled to that back as the scammers needed to log out of the account for the block to work. Why would they log out until they had drained the account?’
The scammers transferred over $24,300 from McKean’s account, despite him not sharing passwords or sensitive details.
She shared: ‘He did not log into his account whilst on the phone with the scammer.’
Megan also pointed out that the scammer was able to increase the daily transfer limit from $6000 to $50,000 without any red flags raised by the bank.
The funds were sent to new accounts McKean had never used.
She criticised both Bendigo Bank and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) for their lack of accountability.
‘Bendigo would not allow him access to his account until he had wiped his laptop and phone and provided evidence that it had been done,’ she said.
‘Which also meant he had no evidence that his password had never been saved to his devices–which they then used against him.’
She also recounted a heartbreaking recording of McKean’s initial call with Bendigo Bank, where he was adamant he hadn’t shared any banking details.
‘It broke my heart when I heard the last bit as it was obvious he had no idea how much money had been taken,’ Megan said.
The process with the bank was described as hellish.
‘They did not stay in contact after the scam and Brendan was always having to chase them up,’ she said.
‘Eventually, they recovered $20 and when they first put it back in the account they charged him $15. It was almost a second kick in the guts.’
When AFCA reviewed the case, they determined that Bendigo Bank had acted within a reasonable time frame to lock the account, but they were not responsible for the $4900 transferred out.
‘Bendigo Bank missed deadlines with AFCA with no consequence while strictly enforcing those for us,’ Megan said.
‘AFCA like the bank, never responded within the time frames given. Weeks and weeks would go by and the onus was always on my father-in-law or us to chase a response. Even the AFCA complaints department could not respond within their given time frame,’ she added.
‘We believe this is a serious risk for all bank customers who are unaware of OSKO’s limitations,’ she said.
‘They should hold funds for a time if it is going to a new account to allow for recall should an issue arise.’
‘The general public need to understand – a lot of people think banks will look after them and they are secure but it’s not the case.’
‘Consumers really need to be made aware that if/when something goes wrong they will not help, they will not take any responsibility and they will blame their customers.’
When approached for comment, a Bendigo Bank spokesperson declined to comment on specific cases but stressed the importance of customers protecting their details.
‘It is important customers take steps to protect themselves and do not share their passwords or allow someone they don’t know or trust to log in to their computer remotely, as it is extremely difficult to recover money that has been transferred to scammers,’ the spokesperson said.
AFCA expressed its support for proposed legislative changes and highlighted the human cost of scams.
‘We see every day the human cost of scams not only in financial terms but in the emotional and psychological impact. We take this work very seriously,’ an AFCA spokesperson said.
‘We are a strong supporter of proposed changes to enhance the law and introduce mandatory codes of practice.’
‘In the meantime, we believe banks, telcos and digital platforms shouldn’t wait. They should take all actions possible now to prevent, detect and disrupt scams, and to provide a fair response to customers harmed by scams,’ the spokesperson added.
In 2023-24, AFCA received a record number of scam-related complaints—over 10,000.
Do you think the current banking systems are doing enough to safeguard your money? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
What began as a routine online issue quickly spiralled into a devastating loss, and the victim’s struggle to recover his funds has raised difficult questions about customer protection.
What happened next has left many questioning the reliability of the systems meant to safeguard our money.
In a devastating turn of events, Brendan McKean, 72, found himself on the phone with his bank while an online scammer was draining his savings.
Despite the bank placing a ‘lock’ on his account, the hacker managed to steal thousands more, leaving McKean without his life savings.
The toll was immense, with McKean also losing his wife of 43 years, Ann, just two weeks later, while still fighting to reclaim the stolen money.
In July 2023, McKean received a warning from Microsoft via his laptop about a virus.
Following the instructions, he called the number provided, where the person guided him to install Anydesk, a legitimate program for remote access.
Having used remote access previously, McKean didn’t suspect any foul play, thinking it was routine.
The situation quickly escalated as McKean began receiving alerts of transactions on his phone while still speaking to the scammer.
He immediately rang Bendigo Bank on his landline for help.
At 3.29 pm, the bank manually locked McKean’s account to prevent further log-ins, but by 3.31 pm, $4900 had already been transferred out.
The fraud block was only applied at 3.39 pm.
The McKean family has been vocal in their support of People Before Profit, advocating for mandatory compensation for scam victims—an initiative already implemented in the UK.
In October 2022, the UK introduced legislation making it compulsory for banks to compensate victims of fraud within five business days unless there is gross negligence.
McKean ended up losing $24,300 in total, with the bank holding him responsible for the loss.
‘They believed everything I told them apart from the fact that I didn’t give the scammers my password,’ McKean said.
‘I never stored my password on the computer…I had the Commonwealth Bank and my superannuation on the computer and neither of those sites were hacked. No money was missing from them–there was no attempt to get into those accounts.’
The impact was devastating. McKean had to borrow $5000 from his son, Gareth, and daughter-in-law, Megan, to pay for Ann’s funeral.
‘$5000 was taken from his account after the bank had supposedly blocked it,’ Megan McKean explained.
‘However, he is apparently not entitled to that back as the scammers needed to log out of the account for the block to work. Why would they log out until they had drained the account?’
The scammers transferred over $24,300 from McKean’s account, despite him not sharing passwords or sensitive details.
She shared: ‘He did not log into his account whilst on the phone with the scammer.’
Megan also pointed out that the scammer was able to increase the daily transfer limit from $6000 to $50,000 without any red flags raised by the bank.
The funds were sent to new accounts McKean had never used.
She criticised both Bendigo Bank and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) for their lack of accountability.
‘Bendigo would not allow him access to his account until he had wiped his laptop and phone and provided evidence that it had been done,’ she said.
‘Which also meant he had no evidence that his password had never been saved to his devices–which they then used against him.’
She also recounted a heartbreaking recording of McKean’s initial call with Bendigo Bank, where he was adamant he hadn’t shared any banking details.
‘It broke my heart when I heard the last bit as it was obvious he had no idea how much money had been taken,’ Megan said.
The process with the bank was described as hellish.
‘They did not stay in contact after the scam and Brendan was always having to chase them up,’ she said.
‘Eventually, they recovered $20 and when they first put it back in the account they charged him $15. It was almost a second kick in the guts.’
When AFCA reviewed the case, they determined that Bendigo Bank had acted within a reasonable time frame to lock the account, but they were not responsible for the $4900 transferred out.
‘Bendigo Bank missed deadlines with AFCA with no consequence while strictly enforcing those for us,’ Megan said.
‘AFCA like the bank, never responded within the time frames given. Weeks and weeks would go by and the onus was always on my father-in-law or us to chase a response. Even the AFCA complaints department could not respond within their given time frame,’ she added.
Megan was also critical of the OSKO payment system, where transfers are immediate and irreversible.‘We believe this is a serious risk for all bank customers who are unaware of OSKO’s limitations,’ she said.
‘They should hold funds for a time if it is going to a new account to allow for recall should an issue arise.’
‘The general public need to understand – a lot of people think banks will look after them and they are secure but it’s not the case.’
‘Consumers really need to be made aware that if/when something goes wrong they will not help, they will not take any responsibility and they will blame their customers.’
When approached for comment, a Bendigo Bank spokesperson declined to comment on specific cases but stressed the importance of customers protecting their details.
‘It is important customers take steps to protect themselves and do not share their passwords or allow someone they don’t know or trust to log in to their computer remotely, as it is extremely difficult to recover money that has been transferred to scammers,’ the spokesperson said.
AFCA expressed its support for proposed legislative changes and highlighted the human cost of scams.
‘We see every day the human cost of scams not only in financial terms but in the emotional and psychological impact. We take this work very seriously,’ an AFCA spokesperson said.
‘We are a strong supporter of proposed changes to enhance the law and introduce mandatory codes of practice.’
‘In the meantime, we believe banks, telcos and digital platforms shouldn’t wait. They should take all actions possible now to prevent, detect and disrupt scams, and to provide a fair response to customers harmed by scams,’ the spokesperson added.
In 2023-24, AFCA received a record number of scam-related complaints—over 10,000.
Do you think the current banking systems are doing enough to safeguard your money? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
