Aussie bank's incredible move after scammer conned small business out of $900,000
An Aussie small business has been saved from financial ruin after scammers conned them out of $900,000. Fake email invoices have become one of the most popular methods for digital thieves to rob Aussies of their hard-earned cash.
In this latest example, a Victorian business recruited a local supplier for a routine job and when it was finished, they sent the construction company a draft invoice to ensure the amount payable was correct. Everything looked fine, however, when the draft was returned to the small business, a tiny adjustment had been made in the banking details.
"Please ensure payment is made into the above bank details as funds paid into the old account will now bounce which could cause delays," the new invoice said.
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Thinking nothing was amiss, the small business transferred the $900,000 to the banking details provided and waited for the money to go through.
However, the supplier contacted the business and revealed they hadn't received the money.
It was only then that the construction company noticed the details had been changed on the invoice and the money had been siphoned off to a scammer.
The small business quickly called Bendigo Bank to explain what happened and the financial institution was able to claw back $897,083, or 95 per cent, of what had been sent to the digital thief.
“This example highlights the Bank’s strengthened ability to rapidly recover funds, and the importance of acting quickly when something doesn’t look or feel right. That said, prevention is better than the cure, so we urge customers to Stop, Think and Protect,” the bank's head of customer protection Jason Gordon said.
Do you have a story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com
How do fake email invoice scams work?
Scammers are able to hack into a person's email account and monitor all the incoming and outgoing messages.
They wait until money needs to be exchanged and will intercept an email with an invoice attached and alter the bank details so that the money comes to them.
A person paying the invoice would likely think nothing is wrong because the email came from the same business address that they had likely already been in contact with.
Aussies lost $16.2 million last year to this specific scam and while the number of reports to Scamwatch dropped by 28 per cent, the amount of money lost went up by 3 per cent.
