Falling victim to a scam can happen to anyone—even those who think they’d never be fooled.

One Aussie business owner thought he was protecting his account when he took action after receiving a text from his bank.

What unfolded next was a costly and distressing ordeal that highlights how sophisticated scams have become.


Falling for a scam wasn’t something Sydney tradie Bradley Turner ever imagined would happen to him. But on a quiet Sunday morning, a single message set off a chain of events that left him reeling—and more than $17,000 out of pocket.

Turner, who runs the microcementing company Pure Deco, was enjoying a typical weekend with his wife and child when a text landed on his phone on 1 June.

It looked completely legitimate—it even appeared in the same thread as previous genuine messages from ANZ, his bank.


The message claimed his voice ID had been updated and urged him to call a number if the change wasn’t authorised.

Concerned that his business account had been compromised, the 33-year-old rang the number. He was soon speaking with people he believed were bank staff, who told him his account was under threat from a scam attempt originating in New Zealand.

They advised him to move his money into a new ‘secure’ account immediately.

‘I’m pretty clued in,’ Mr Turner said.

‘The guy made me panic. I spoke to three people, they make you panic.’


The panic led him to transfer two payments—one for $16,941 and another for roughly $7,000.

The money had been set aside to pay his workers. He said he would never have responded to a random message, but the fact that this one showed up in the same thread as his legitimate bank alerts convinced him it was real.

The texts that followed also appeared in the same ANZ thread, reinforcing the illusion that he was speaking with the bank.

At first, Turner felt relieved. He thought he’d narrowly avoided being scammed. But when he mentioned the ordeal to a friend later that morning, alarm bells rang.

‘I’ve never dealt with a scam or fraud call before. There were a couple of red flags, but of course, you don’t think about it until you’re finished,’ he said.


That conversation prompted him to call ANZ. It didn’t take long for the truth to unravel—the entire thing had been a scam. He reported the incident to police, but by then, most of the damage had been done.

Although the bank managed to stop the smaller $7,000 transfer, the larger sum was already gone—moved to another bank account, likely on-transferred or converted into cryptocurrency in a matter of minutes.

‘It felt horrendous. I felt like I’d been violated. You feel so violated that someone has managed to trick you,’ Turner said.


What added to his frustration was the response he said he received from ANZ, claiming the tone was essentially ‘you’re on your own’. He was shocked that the bank would take no responsibility for the scammers spoofing their message thread.

‘They make it like you should know about this already. This (scam) was really well done and scamming is getting a lot bigger,’ he said.

He argued that the bank’s messaging system had been exploited and that it wasn’t fair to place all the blame on him.

‘It came through their feed and it is so frustrating. I don’t see how they can wipe their hands of it,’ he said.
‘If it was through a random number I’d understand.’

An ANZ spokesperson declined to comment on his case specifically but confirmed the bank does try to recover stolen funds.

‘We always attempt to recover funds customers have lost to scams or fraud. However, the ability to recover funds depends on a number of factors including how quickly it is reported to us, whether they are transferred to another financial institution, and the speed in which funds are then on-transferred by scammers. In many instances, cyber criminals on-transfer funds within minutes, or use them to purchase cryptocurrency.’


ANZ also stated that a genuine message would never ask customers to transfer money, share sensitive details, click login links, grant remote access, or join chats with staff.

Despite those warnings, Turner said more should have been done and accused the bank of failing to keep its customers safe.

‘They’ve let me down and now they just want to palm me off,’ he said.

His frustration was amplified by the fact that the stolen money was to pay wages for his seven employees. The loss didn’t just hurt him—it jeopardised his ability to run his business.

‘Things are expensive. You’re trying to run a business. It was from my business account, and I have seven employees. That is a couple of weeks of wages. Do I send the boys to collect the wages from (ANZ)?’


Unfortunately, Turner’s story wasn’t unique.

Earlier this year, it was reported a similar scam involving Furkan Colak, another tradie—this time from Melbourne—who lost $58,000 after receiving what he believed was a message from ANZ.

Colak said the whole experience left him ‘shaking’ and it was difficult to move past the financial and emotional blow.

‘It comes to the point where you’re almost over it and then you think what you could have done with the money,’ he said.

The rise in spoofing scams has shown just how convincing cyber criminals can be—and how easy it is for even savvy Aussies to get caught in their trap.


With scammers getting smarter and messages looking more convincing than ever, do you think banks are doing enough to protect everyday Aussies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

In a previous story, we looked at how scammers stole a staggering $66.6 million from older Australians—proof that no one is truly safe from these tactics.

For seniors trying to stay one step ahead, even a simple 30-minute step could help stop a scam before it starts.

If you’ve ever felt unsure about spotting the signs, that article is well worth a read.

Read more: Scammers took $66.6 million from seniors—could this 30-minute tip stop them?