Melbourne bride-to-be falls victim to NAB phone banking scam that robbed her wedding savings
A bride-to-be has lost $40,000 she had saved for her dream wedding after falling victim to a phone banking scam.
Melbourne woman Stephanie Hoggan, 30, got engaged to her partner, Matty, 30, after he popped the question in May 2022.
The couple started saving money for their big day in November, but their dreams of a perfect wedding were dashed when Ms Hoggan was swindled out of her money by a con man pretending to be from the National Australia Bank.
Ms Hoggan explained she was having a ‘super busy’ day at work when she received an unusual text message.
Stephanie Hoggan (pictured left with her fiancé, Matty), 30, lost $40,000 she had saved for her wedding to phone banking scams
Ms. Hoggan received a text from someone claiming to be an NAB employee telling her she had authorized $900 to be paid to another account
‘I got this text message saying it was from NAB’ she said news.com.au.
“It said I authorized $900 to pay to this person, but if it wasn’t me, let them know.
“It had a number to call, so of course I called it because I was freaking out. I didn’t want to lose that money.’
Ms Hoggan explained that she spoke to a man on the phone who had a British accent and constantly claimed to be an NAB employee.
She thought the man sounded calm and professional and not what a “typical con man” would sound like.
Ms. Hoggan spoke to the man for about 20 minutes and was convinced to transfer money to another account.
When she got home from work, Mrs. Hoggan realized something was wrong and called NAB who told her that her money had been transferred to an account at the Commonwealth Bank and nothing could be done about it.
Ms Hoggan said she was in complete shock and thought there would have been at least a ‘holding period’ before all the money was transferred.
She said she got suspicious when she was on guard.
The automatic message read ‘Welcome to National Australia Bank’.
She pointed out that a call from a real NAB phone would open with the line “Welcome to NAB.”
NAB said it was investigating the scam.
They gave her $10,000 in compensation, something she said she was “grateful” for.
However, there was nothing that could be done to get the rest of her money back.
Ms Hoggan has called on banks to step up their game and enforce tougher measures to put a stop to scammers.
She added that she was “grateful” to have money left over to pay her bills and her home.
Despite the unfortunate turn of events, her marriage goes ahead in November anyway.
Ms. Hoggan contacted NAB, who informed her that her money was lost and could not be recovered. NAB is currently investigating the scam and implementing new measures to stop scammers (pictured, NAB branch in Melbourne)
NAB says new measures are being implemented, but customers had to be careful when receiving messages from people claiming to be an employee of their bank.
It comes weeks after the bank warned customers about a new PayID impersonation.
The scammers pose as representatives of PayID and target people selling items on the internet.
They send emails to victims telling them that payment for the items they sell has been withheld because the seller does not have a ‘business account’.
The scammers advise victims to transfer an additional payment in order to overcome a payment limit and allow the transaction to go through.
NAB Executive Group Executive and Fraud Chris Sheehan said PayID scams were the latest impersonation scam targeting Aussies and the number of people affected by the scam was expected to be higher as many cases go unreported.
“Nobody wants to try and sell their old couch, fridge, phone or stroller and it inadvertently costs them money. Unfortunately, that happens more and more when people try to sell items online,” he said.
“Just as online marketplaces have replaced garage sales as the go-to option for selling pre-owned items, the way we make and receive payments is also changing.
The PayID scam involves scammers sending emails to victims telling them that payment for the items they sell online has been withheld because the seller does not have a ‘business account’. Sellers are then advised to forward additional payments
‘PayID is a relatively new payment method and is fast, safe and simple. It’s also free – and the biggest red flag of any PayID-related scam is often when someone asks you for money to upgrade an account or access PayID.
Mr. Sheehan explained that PayID never charges people for using the system and never sends emails or texts to merchants.
“If you receive one, it’s a scam,” he continued.
“Cybercriminals are sophisticated and unfortunately we now see them trying to abuse PayID as it is generally not as well known by the community as other ways to send and receive money.”
Australians lost $260,000 to PayID-specific impersonation scams last year, according to Scam Watch.
NAB has also recorded a 38 percent year-over-year increase in total scam reports.