Why an NAB worker stopped a customer from withdrawing his own cash
A National Bank of Australia employee has saved an elderly customer from losing all his money when she suspected a scam.
Sarah Woods, a banker for 16 years, was working in a Hobart branch when a customer in her 80s asked to withdraw $10,000 for a kitchen renovation.
When he requested to write the check to himself, Ms. Woods became suspicious and knew “something was going on.”
“He was so vulnerable and he was panicking,” she said.
In a rackNAB said Ms Woods decided to further pressure the customer with questions to try to confirm whether he was about to fall victim to a scam.
NAB bank teller Sarah Woods (pictured) said the customer seemed ‘vulnerable’ and his request for money was a red flag
The customer, in his eighties, was threatened and told to lie to bank staff
“Every time I asked him about his renovations, he gave me a different answer,” she said.
“He became increasingly uncomfortable and said, ‘I really need to do this and get out of here,’ and that’s when I knew I wasn’t going to take the money for him.
“I told him I was very concerned about what the money was for and that these were warning signs of a scam.”
Both Sarah and her branch manager escorted the man to a private office and when the older man realized what was happening, he collapsed.
“He looked at me, held my hand and told me all about the phone call he had received, the demand the scammers had made for a bank check and the lie they wanted him to tell,” she said.
“He said the scammers on the phone had become angry with him, made threats and told him not to trust the bank staff.”
The scammers convinced the customer to empty his account and said that when staff asked what he was withdrawing the money for, he had to lie and say it was for renovation work.
Fortunately, the old bankers’ instincts were right and Mrs. Woods stopped the scam transaction and spared the man his savings.
“He told me, ‘You basically saved every cent of my money’ and from then on we had a little bond and he kept hugging me,” she said.
The man left the bank happy, but was now aware of scams and demands for his money.
The Australian Government’s Scam Watch tells Aussies there are common signs of a scam to look out for, including when someone asks you to create a new account or PAYID (pictured image of a man on a computer , not a scammer)
“It’s so satisfying to know I saved this man’s money, but it shows that scammers will stop at nothing.”
NAB Executive, Group Investigations Chris Sheehan said it highlighted the importance of the bank’s fight against scams.
“Colleagues within the bank work every day to reduce the impact of fraud,” he said.
“We have colleagues on the frontline in offices like Sarah and on the phone in Fraud Ops, supporting customers in the moments after a scam has occurred or been stopped, to colleagues working on proactive initiatives designed to protect customers.”
Mr Sheehan admitted that while the bank has more to do, he was pleased that they saw a reduction in fraud losses between October and December 2023 – despite a high number of reports of fraud from customers.
The former director of the Australian Federal Police said he believed initiatives such as removing links from text messages and blocking payments to some high-risk crypto platforms are having a positive impact.