Scam alert: This Aussie grandmother lost a whopping $750,000 in a short amount of time
By
VanessaC
- Replies 50
There have been plenty of reports about the rise of scams, and while many have been done to try and combat them, sadly, there are still those who fall victim to these schemes.
Unfortunately, one grandmother named Jane was the latest victim who lost a whopping $750,000 to a scam.
Jane, an ANZ customer of nearly 50 years, had recently sold her family home and was ready to invest the money in some long-term savings when disaster struck.
The grandmother fell for an elaborate hoax as she believed she was sending the money into an ING account that would offer an attractive interest rate—but instead, the money ended up in a bogus NAB account created by scammers.
Jane lost her money in the blink of an eye and said she had contacted both ANZ and NAB about the mistake but was told her money was gone for good. She was then warned that it was unlikely that she would receive much of the money back.
It is understood that Australians are encouraged to reach out to their banks if they have been victimised by a scam.
In comparison the UK, where new laws yet to be implemented in the coming year, will require banks to refund victims of scams within days unless proven to have acted negligently or fraudulently.
Australians are not necessarily entitled to the same compensation.
ANZ eventually agreed to return $1000 to Jane but said it couldn’t do much else. Understandably, Jane was absolutely devastated and expected much more support from her bank.
'I used to have ultimate faith in the banking system,' she said.
'But my money would have been safer under my mattress.'
Jane’s daughter, Sarah, who shared her mum’s pain, said: 'You feel that lump in your throat...to realise that my mum had been a victim of such a massive crime.'
Stephanie Tonkin from the Consumer Law Action Centre also added that bank impersonation scams are becoming far more common and difficult to recognise for average people.
'We’ve dropped the ball because we don’t have any form of strict regulation that says who is responsible,' she said.
In similar news, Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice cloning scams have become more sophisticated.
This scam involves cybercriminals stealing a victim’s voice from social media and using it to fool unsuspecting family members with a fearmongering phone call. This is done in the hopes of receiving money or access to private information.
You can find out more about this story and how to stay safe from such scams here.
This story comes after reports of another senior was targetted by scammers shortly before being diagnosed with dementia at age 78.
Victor, Alex's son, said he found out about the missing money when he and his father had recently visited their local ANZ branch—apparently, almost half a million dollars had been stolen from Alex's account.
Alex, however, had meticulously noted down names and details of conversations with the strangers who had contacted him.
To Victor’s surprise, the bank sent them a letter three months later letting him know they would reimburse the scam transactions on his father’s bank account.
You can read more about this here.
Members, it’s important that we keep ourselves educated and vigilant when it comes to scammers and their sneaky tactics, to ensure we as well as our loved ones don’t fall into the same traps.
You can find out about the latest news on scams on our Scam Watch forum here.
Make sure your family and friends remain aware of the most common scams out there, and if you happen to be a victim of fraud, it’s essential to call your bank as soon as possible and report the incident to Scamwatch to help protect others.
Members, how do you stay safe from the different types of scams nowadays? Share your tips with us below!
Unfortunately, one grandmother named Jane was the latest victim who lost a whopping $750,000 to a scam.
Jane, an ANZ customer of nearly 50 years, had recently sold her family home and was ready to invest the money in some long-term savings when disaster struck.
The grandmother fell for an elaborate hoax as she believed she was sending the money into an ING account that would offer an attractive interest rate—but instead, the money ended up in a bogus NAB account created by scammers.
Jane lost her money in the blink of an eye and said she had contacted both ANZ and NAB about the mistake but was told her money was gone for good. She was then warned that it was unlikely that she would receive much of the money back.
It is understood that Australians are encouraged to reach out to their banks if they have been victimised by a scam.
In comparison the UK, where new laws yet to be implemented in the coming year, will require banks to refund victims of scams within days unless proven to have acted negligently or fraudulently.
Australians are not necessarily entitled to the same compensation.
ANZ eventually agreed to return $1000 to Jane but said it couldn’t do much else. Understandably, Jane was absolutely devastated and expected much more support from her bank.
'I used to have ultimate faith in the banking system,' she said.
'But my money would have been safer under my mattress.'
Jane’s daughter, Sarah, who shared her mum’s pain, said: 'You feel that lump in your throat...to realise that my mum had been a victim of such a massive crime.'
Stephanie Tonkin from the Consumer Law Action Centre also added that bank impersonation scams are becoming far more common and difficult to recognise for average people.
'We’ve dropped the ball because we don’t have any form of strict regulation that says who is responsible,' she said.
In similar news, Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice cloning scams have become more sophisticated.
This scam involves cybercriminals stealing a victim’s voice from social media and using it to fool unsuspecting family members with a fearmongering phone call. This is done in the hopes of receiving money or access to private information.
You can find out more about this story and how to stay safe from such scams here.
This story comes after reports of another senior was targetted by scammers shortly before being diagnosed with dementia at age 78.
Victor, Alex's son, said he found out about the missing money when he and his father had recently visited their local ANZ branch—apparently, almost half a million dollars had been stolen from Alex's account.
Alex, however, had meticulously noted down names and details of conversations with the strangers who had contacted him.
To Victor’s surprise, the bank sent them a letter three months later letting him know they would reimburse the scam transactions on his father’s bank account.
You can read more about this here.
Members, it’s important that we keep ourselves educated and vigilant when it comes to scammers and their sneaky tactics, to ensure we as well as our loved ones don’t fall into the same traps.
You can find out about the latest news on scams on our Scam Watch forum here.
Make sure your family and friends remain aware of the most common scams out there, and if you happen to be a victim of fraud, it’s essential to call your bank as soon as possible and report the incident to Scamwatch to help protect others.
Key Takeaways
- An Australian grandmother named Jane was scammed out of $750,000 after falling for a hoax involving a fake NAB account.
- Jane contacted both ANZ and NAB after realising the scam, but was told her money was lost and she would likely not receive much of it back.
- Unlike in the UK, where new laws will force banks to refund victims of scams within days, Australians are not necessarily entitled to compensation for funds lost to scammers.
- Stephanie Tonkin from the Consumer Law Action Centre noted the increase in bank impersonation scams and stated that Australia lacks strict regulation concerning responsibility in these situations.