[Jarred Santos]

He thought he was buying a car, but this man ended up SCAMMED out of almost $100,000​

Imagine this: you've found the perfect car online, one that's just right for your needs and falls within your budget.

You're so excited to finally pull the trigger on this purchase after days or even weeks of searching, so you contact the dealer, work out all the details... and then transfer them the money for it.

Then you find out you were being scammed all along. Painful, right?

If there’s anyone who would know about such a situation, it’s renowned horse trainer, Rob Heathcote.

You see, he lost almost $100,000 after attempting to purchase a Mercedes-Benz as a present for his wife.

Heathcote told reporters he had been corresponding with the dealership he was buying from, up until he made his transfer from the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) for his purchase.

It was all too late by the time Heathcote pieced everything together.

‘A hacker got in there and was basically communicating between myself and Mercedes-Benz,’ he said.

Rob, a renowned horse trainer, wanted to buy a present for his wife Vicky. Credit: robheathcoatracing.com.au

‘I don’t consider myself a dill when it comes to this type of activity.’

Thankfully enough, Heathcote had enough funds to afford the same car he originally was trying to buy, but it meant he was essentially paying twice the amount for the same car.

As anyone in his place would be right to do, Heathcote is looking for someone responsible.

One could blame the dealership he was supposedly ‘in contact’ with the whole time, but they deny any culpability in the incident and stressed that there is no evidence as to Heathcote’s email being compromised in their records.

Another option he’s considering is his bank.

‘I believe the Bank of Queensland is liable for the restitution of those funds,’ Heathcote said.

In response, BOQ said: ‘BOQ empathises with Mr Heathcote and understands that this is a private customer matter currently being investigated by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.’

While Heathcote waits for the return of his hard-earned money, all he can do is look for silver linings.

‘I really hope that once the full investigations are done, that there’s a good outcome,’ he said.

Heathcote was able to afford another car for his wife, but he isn’t losing sight of the money he got scammed out of. Credit: 7News

So, what exactly happened in Heathcote’s case?

According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACCC), he might have fallen victim to what is known as a business email compromise (BEC) scam.

This scam involves perpetrators who pretend to be representatives of businesses. In some cases, they use hacked accounts of employees.

The ACCC recommends several measures to combat BEC scams, including avoiding ‘phishing’.

Phishing is commonly used by scammers to get the details of unsuspecting individuals by sending them emails or texts asking them for personal information.

Remember that most often, companies will not contact you by email or text (unless you set things up with them to be that way) for any verification or updating of information.

Another tip here is if a text or email seems off — the visuals aren’t good, grammar is disastrous — don’t click on it. Just don’t!

It would also be wise to set up multi-factor authentication just as an added measure against those who would impersonate you using your own accounts.

Lastly, as soon as you realise something amiss, immediately contact authorities and change the passwords to accounts you feel could have been compromised.

If you have time, do check out this scam discovered by our very own member Tony V., and this ‘Prezzee’ scam that an anonymous member wants us to watch out for.

What do you think about this story? Have you had any run-ins with those nasty scammers? Or maybe you have tips on how to deal with these nuisances?

Share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences below!

Source: Standard Chartered Bank​