Gold Coast couple Mitchell Wilson and Penny Davies lose home and savings in home buyers email scam
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Shattered couple lose their life savings AND their new home after falling victim to a sophisticated email scam – as texts show the horrifying moment pregnant mum realised she’d been duped
- Gold Coast couple thought they were settling on the dream new family home
- But the email with bank account details for final settlement payment was a fake
- They have been left without their new home and lost almost $40,000 life savings
- Hacking scam could target anyone and police warn to always check bank details
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A heartbroken couple have lost their dream home and all their life savings in a sophisticated email scam.
Mitch Wilson and Penny Davies were set to move into their new Gold Coast family home ahead of the birth of their second child.
They received an email from their estate agent asking them to settle the deal with the final payment of $39,000 with bank details for them to transfer the cash.
But the email was a fake – and the bank account was set up by fraudsters who immediately spirited the cash away into untraceable cryptocurrency.
Now the devastated couple have been left with nothing and shattered Mitch Wilson warns others: ‘It can happen to anyone.’
Mitch Wilson and Penny Davies were set to move into their new Gold Coast family home ahead of the birth of their second child when they lost their dream home and all their life savings in a sophisticated email scam
They received an email from their estate agent asking them to make the final payment of $39,000 with bank account details for them to transfer the cash but the email was fake
The couple only found out they had been conned when the estate agent contacted them several days after the cash was transferred to say they had yet to receive it.
Police believe the criminals had hacked into the estate agents’ email, secretly taking control of the account and then pouncing when they saw a chance to scam the unwary couple.
The hackers send an apparently genuine email which seems to come from the authentic business – but with the fake bank account details.
The scam is so sophisticated it can leave both sides baffled and battling over how the rip-off has happened.
The couple only found out they had been conned when the estate agent contacted them several days after the cash was transferred to say they had yet to receive it
‘It plays over and over in my head all of the time,’ Ms Davies told 9News.
Mr Wilson added: ‘We went back and forth, we exchanged screenshots and emails from their side and ours, and what was obvious is the money didn’t go where it was supposed to go which was their account.
‘It ended up in some fraudster’s account and then offshore to a crypto account.’
The couple are now locked in a legal row with the estate agent in a bid to recover at least some of their cash after missing out on the dream home they were buying.
But commercial lawyer Shane Grant warned: ‘Unfortunately the thing is most of these are occurring in commercial transactions where there are two innocent parties.’
The couple are now locked in a legal row with the estate agent in a bid to recover at least some of their cash after missing out on the dream home they were buying
Police warn anyone transferring cash to follow up email instructions with a phone call to double check bank account details are correct before sending any money.
Ian Wells from the Queensland Police Service Cyber Crime Group added: ‘These people with these skills, they’re very cunning, they’re very calculated.’