Australian business on brink of collapse after scammer steals $40,000 in ANZ Bank transactions

A small business is on the brink of bankruptcy after scammers ordered tens of thousands of dollars worth of inventory using stolen credit cards.

Roland Sharman, 80, has owned Sail Shade World, a DIY business that makes and ships shade sails internationally, for 18 years. But he may now be forced to close his business.

In July, Mr Sharman sent $36,000 worth of stock to a client in the Middle East, only to discover the client had bought the sails with stolen credit cards.

In August he noticed that there had been multiple ‘chargebacks’ that had wiped out payments from his ANZ business account, despite the fact that the sails had long been torn.

The original owners of the credit cards used to purchase the sails had appealed the fraudulent transactions, leaving Mr Sharman empty-handed.

ANZ is refusing to help Mr Sharman, saying he is technically at fault because he exposed himself to the fraud by not using 3DSecure, a crucial cybersecurity measure that could have protected him from the scammers.

Mr Sharman, who has no pension or other benefits, is now worried that he will soon be left with nothing.

“I don’t know if we’re going to survive this,” Sharman said. told news.com.au.

A customer in the Middle East placed 21 orders for Mr. Sharman’s interior blinds in July, but in August the original credit card holders began to get their lost money back

“It’s rocked the boat, in terms of cash flow. We’re a small company. It’s a perfectly stable, fun little money machine, we don’t have to [usually] not having to worry about anything.

“We felt that we didn’t need to put any money aside.”

Previously, Mr. Sharman had few problems with non-payments as his business expanded to more than 50 countries and he moved to Vienna, Austria, to be closer to his family.

According to Mr Sharman, ANZ responded to the scammers by blaming the businessman.

ANZ had previously raised transaction fees from 1.8 percent to 3 percent for added security as the company began taking on so many international orders.

But the small business owner maintains that he had no idea that 3DSecure was available to him or that he was expected to use it.

However, a bank spokesperson told him it was not their “responsibility to ensure your safety,” Sharman told Daily Mail Australia.

The cost of adding 3DSecure to his processing fees would be five cents per transaction, which Mr Sharman said he would have gladly paid if he had known about.

“This was completely avoidable,” he said. “They raised our rate and said it was because of the complexity of cybersecurity for foreign companies. For what?”

Mr Sharman estimated the increased costs cost his company hundreds of thousands of dollars over its lifetime, but there was no protection in place when he needed it.

After numerous unsuccessful communications with ANZ representatives to resolve the issue, Mr Sharman filed a formal complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) on 16 August.

Mr Sharman’s bank, ANZ, is refusing to help him recover the lost funds, saying it failed to use a crucial cybersecurity feature that the 80-year-old didn’t even know existed

Mr Sharman has since then GoFundMe to recover some of the money he lost to the scam.

He also hopes to start a movement that forces banks to take responsibility for cybercrime on their systems and for courts to better protect their customers.

“There should be legislation to prevent this,” Sharman said.

‘As a bank, you have a fiduciary responsibility. You cannot allow your customers to be at risk when there is a way to prevent that.’

A spokesperson for ANZ Worldline Payment Solutions told Daily Mail Australia that 3D Secure “must be enabled by the merchant’s gateway provider”.

“3D Secure is a security protocol used by payment gateways to verify online credit and debit card transactions,” the spokesperson said.

‘In this case, ANZ Worldline Payment Solutions is not the gateway provider.

‘However, ANZ Worldline Payment Solutions provides all customers with information about 3D Secure through manuals, our website and proactive communications. We also encourage them to check if 3D Secure is available through their gateway if they use a third-party provider.’