A British con man scammed an Australian businessman $130,000 in a sophisticated text messaging scam, before boasting about how he “went on holiday” with the money.
The victim, company owner Paul Trefry, has spoken out on 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live to warn others to stay vigilant before it’s too late.
The criminals texted Mr Trefry from the same number used by ANZ Bank.
It appeared in the same message thread as legitimate text messages from the bank, leading Mr. Trefry to believe it was legitimate.
The text message warned that his account had been hacked and that he should transfer his money to a new ‘safer’ account, which the crooks turned out to be.
“I have a business and it’s very hard not to have a bus credit card, so the second option was better for me,” he said.
Scam victim Paul Trefry said the criminal used an ‘over-stamping’ technique to make a fake security alert appear in legitimate text chat with his bank, ANZ, in May
Over the next four days, Mr. Trefry sent $130,000, which was controlled by the scammers.
A week later, ANZ Bank contacted him to let him know he had been scammed.
“They asked me about a transfer of $17,500 to an account and I said, ‘Well, guys, I’m just following your instructions’ and they said ‘no, we wouldn’t be instructing you to transfer money to different accounts.’
“…He (the ANZ representative) said, ‘Look, it’s a really elaborate scam that these guys have done and they’re copying ANZ’s protocol to a tee, unfortunately we won’t be able to do much for you’.”
He called on ANZ to do more to warn its customers about current scams.
“They have an obligation to their customers to let them know about this kind of thing,” he said.
“They’ve known about it for a long time.
“It’s easy to text your customers saying this service has been compromised and review the texts before doing anything.”
ANZ was able to recover some of the money, but Mr. Trefry still has $85,000 out of pocket.
A mock-up of the scam text messages he received from scammers posing as ANZ Bank
Mr. Trefry decided to contact the scammers after discovering their theft, who bragged about stealing his money.
“I think you need to understand that you were robbed for $100,000. It’s been great dealing with you, Paul,” the con artist said.
‘Thank you. I’m going on vacation soon.
“How do you feel about losing 33 percent of your balance?”
Mr Trefry replied that he was ‘appalled’ that his admission fell on deaf ears.
‘I’m still happy. We made a profit,” said the scammer.
“We bought your data for $20 and then I called you.
“We just ripped you off.”
The conversation took a sinister turn after Mr. Trefry told the con artist that he was recording their conversation.
“Who are you going to send your recording to? What news should I check? Which? Where am I looking for this recording?” asked the scammer.
Enjoy losing your $100,000. I hope your mom has a horrible, horrible death and Mother’s Day turns out to be an absolutely shocking birthday for you.
“I hope it reminds you of the scam and your mother will die in a horrible way, I’m going to shit on her grave.”
The ANZ fraud team only contacted Mr Trefry about his strange transfers a week after he received the bogus alert, by which point he had already lost $130,000.
The scammers’ fake text told Paul that his ANZ account had been compromised and appeared in the same chat as other legitimate messages from the bank
Mr. Trefry is a well-known sculptor who runs the Creature NFX workshop, a company that makes animatronics, models, costumes and props.
He was recently awarded a contract to model the kangaroo, unicorn and emus that appeared in an Australian tourism advertisement.
He is now afraid that he will have to close his business.
“I don’t know how I can get over it financially,” he said.
Daily Mail Australia contacted ANZ for comment.