Australia’s banks could take down scammers who are stealing thousands of dollars from Australian workers with one step, a consumer law expert has revealed.
Mitch Wilson and Penny Davies are the latest victims of a sophisticated fraud that has wiped out their life savings and their dream home on the Gold Coast.
The couple received an email from their real estate agent asking for a final payment of $39,000 with bank details to transfer the cash.
But the email was fake, and the bank account was set up by scammers who immediately took the cash into an untraceable cryptocurrency.
Now the Consumer Action Law Center has told the Daily Mail Australia that scams like the one that hit the couple could be prevented if banks simply checked the names of the accounts the money was being paid into.
Currently, scammers can give their victims bank details under any account name.
Banks then check the BSB and account numbers used in a transfer, but do not check whether the name used matches the name on the account.
Mitch Wilson and Penny Davies of the Gold Coast are now locked in a legal dispute with the real estate agent in an attempt to recover at least some of their cash after missing out on the dream home they were buying when scammers scammed them.
They received an email from their real estate agent asking them to make the final payment of $39,000 with bank account details to transfer the cash, but the email was bogus.
Currently, scammers can give their victims bank details under any account name. Banks then check the BSB and account numbers used in a transfer, but do not check whether the name used matches the name on the account.
Gerard Brody of the Consumer Action Law Center says the current system leaves Australians at risk of scams.
“Verifying the name is called ‘beneficiary confirmation,'” he told Daily Mail Australia. ‘At the moment, there is no confirmation of beneficiary in the BSB and transfer of account number online.
“The risk is on you as an individual to get those correct numbers and the bank doesn’t double check that the account name you enter is going to the correct accounts.
‘If you look at online platforms, they will have a warning about it. But I’m not sure how effective that warning is because it’s not that prominent.
‘Reforms in the UK and other countries now require banks to confirm the beneficiary. Here in Australia, there have been calls for banks to do the same, but they don’t and that creates huge risks of scams.’
Mr Brody said Australians currently can get their money back if they are victims of fraud, such as their card or account details being stolen and used without their knowledge.
However, it says that if you authorize the fraud, as Mr. Wilson and Ms. Davies were duped into doing, it may be much more difficult to get a refund from your bank.
“Unfortunately, it can be very easy to get scammed, and they can be very sophisticated, including these types of phishing scams,” he said.
“They can often make people panic and we know that when people are stressed they are not thinking clearly.
“It doesn’t seem fair for people to bear all the losses associated with scams, so we’re pushing for stronger measures to prevent fraudulent banking transactions from being processed.”
‘In the UK, they have been progressive on this issue. There has been a voluntary code for the banking industry that says it will reimburse innocent victims of scam losses, even when it is an authorized scam.
‘The UK Parliament has just introduced legislation to mandate that code. That’s really the main driver. If we make banks more responsible for covering victims of fraud, there will be a greater incentive for them to ensure that the payment system is secure.
“They will install systems and other measures that could reduce the risk of loss from fraud.”
Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Davies only found out they had been scammed when the real estate agent contacted them several days after the cash was transferred to say they had not yet received it.
Police believe the crooks hacked into the estate agents’ email, secretly took control of the account and then pounced when they saw an opportunity to scam the unsuspecting couple.
The hackers send a seemingly genuine email that appears to come from the authentic business, but with the fake bank account details.
The scam is so sophisticated that it can leave both parties confused and arguing about how the scam happened.
The couple only found out they had been scammed when the real estate agent contacted them several days after the cash was transferred to say they still hadn’t received it.
“It plays over and over in my head all the time,” Ms Davies told 9News.
Wilson added: “We went back and forth, exchanging screenshots and emails from him and us, and what was obvious is that the money didn’t go where it was supposed to go, which was his account.”
“It ended up in a scammer’s account and then overseas to a crypto account.”
The couple are now locked in a legal dispute with the estate agent in a bid to get at least some of their cash back after missing out on the dream home they were buying.
But business attorney Shane Grant warned: “Unfortunately, most of these occur in business transactions where there are two innocent parties.”
Police advise anyone transferring cash to follow instructions via email with a phone call to verify bank account details are correct before sending money.
Ian Wells of the Queensland Police Service Cybercrime Group added: “These people with these skills, they are very cunning, they are very calculated.”
Leave a Reply