Jess Hardiman
A gran was left devastated after losing almost £400,000 to a scammer within a matter of just minutes, saying she felt her money would have been ’safer’ under her mattress.
Jane, a grandmother from Australia, had sold her family home when she was stung by a nasty hoax.
After being scammed out of AUD $750,000 (£392,000), she said she’s tragically been told she won’t receive much of the cash back from her bank.
Jane, who has been a customer with ANZ for nearly five decades, had thought she was transferring her money into an ING account, believing it would earn her a good interest rate.
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However, she was horrified to learn that it had actually been sent to a fake NAB account set up by fraudsters.
Jane’s daughter Sarah said she ‘felt awful’ when she heard what had happened to her mum.
Speaking to 7News, she said: “You feel that lump in your throat ... to realise that my mum had been a victim of such a massive crime."
Jane contacted ANZ and NAB to see if anything could be done, but sadly it was not good news.
She found out it was likely she wouldn’t be able to get much of the money back, and while ANZ later agreed to pay back $1,000 AUD (£522), she said it didn’t help much in the circumstance.
Jane said she feels absolutely devastated about what happened, and expected more by way of support from her bank.
Jane told 7NEWS she was absolutely devastated and expected 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.”
Stephanie Tonkin from the Consumer Law Action Centre explained how bank impersonation scams are becoming far more common - and, even worse, much more convincing.
“We’ve dropped the ball because we don’t have any form of strict regulation that says who is responsible,” she commented.
Over in the UK, a new law is being brought in that will see banks required to reimburse fraud victims who have been misled into transferring money to scammers.
Chris Hemsley, managing director at the Payments Systems Regulator (PSR), said earlier this year, when the new law was announced: “Once implemented, our changes will deliver a major shift from the status quo, giving everyone across the payments ecosystem a reason to act to prevent fraud from happening in the first place.
“That means everybody who makes payments can do so with much greater confidence, knowing that they will be better protected against fraudsters.
“In delivering this step-change, the UK will be at the forefront of the fight against APP fraud globally. And by confirming these changes now, it means we will be ready to act once new laws come into effect.”
The law is due to come into effect next year - and is already inspiring other countries to potentially follow suit.
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones went on to say Australia may bring in similar laws, telling ABC Radio Brisbane: "[We're] definitely going to lift the bar and we're definitely going to ensure the banks are accountable for much more.
"When you look at what the UK does, we'll probably look at something which travels in the same direction."
Tyla has reached out to ANZ and NAB for comment.