A couple who were about to buy their dream home lost half a million dollars after a hacker tricked them into transferring their money to them.
The Melbourne couple, one of whom works in finance and IT, transferred $500,000 to a wily scammer who hacked into their notary’s web server.
They assumed that the email had been sent by their notary, a specialist lawyer, and therefore had no problem sending the money to a stranger. bank account.
Only later did they receive a call from their notary, who told them that no such transfer had ever been requested.
“My stomach immediately dropped. I explained that the request came from her email account, but she said she didn’t send it,” the couple said. realestate.com.au.
‘She checked her emails but couldn’t find anything. A few hours later I was at the police station reporting that we had been scammed.
‘There was immediate panic, stress and tears and I said to my husband, “I’ve ruined our lives. That’s all our money gone.” There were a lot of tears.’
The couple’s bank and the bank the scammer used refused to accept liability and police said the money had already been transferred to cryptocurrency and was therefore untraceable.
A Melbourne couple have been scammed out of half a million dollars after receiving an email they thought was from their specialist lawyer asking for the money
The couple were about to buy their dream home when one of them noticed their mistake. ‘I said to my husband, “I’ve ruined our lives”‘
Police confirmed that the hackers had hacked the couple’s real estate agent and that the IP address linked to the fake email was from abroad.
The couple is still waiting to hear whether their notary insurance will reimburse them for their lost assets, as the money they sent will likely never be returned.
According to Julijiana Todorovic, an associate at Brisbane law firm Slater and Gordon, these types of scams have become more common in recent times.
The ‘worrying increase’ has been caused by the rapidly developing According to Ms Todorovic, the cyber fraud landscape has ‘evolved faster than legislation can keep up’.
Even if the Melbourne couple’s scammer is found, there is nothing the authorities can do about it because they are not in Australia.
The Australian Institute of Conveyancers (AIC) is working with the Australian Banking Association to improve security to help prevent similar scams from happening again in the future.
Mark Powers, operations manager at AIC Victoria, confirmed that the sector has been working to minimise risk, but that not all notaries are members of the industry group.
Sophisticated scammers have become more successful in recent times, thanks in part to advances in AI
Mr Powers blamed the increasing number of scams for creating higher premiums for insurance policies for customers.
According to David Willett, Chief Information Technology Security Officer at PEXA, Australia’s largest digital conveyancing company, hackers are getting better as AI gets smarter.
AI has “proven useful for the bad guys,” but conscious consumer thinking can help people avoid falling into similar traps themselves, he added.
Mr Willet urged anyone who receives an email asking for personal information with a “sense of urgency” to think twice before responding.
Hackers usually try to get their victims to send money or ask them to usernames, passwords or bank or credit card details.
According to the ACCC’s Scamwatch, $91.6 million was stolen from Australians through diversion fraud in 2023, but Willett says the real figure is likely much higher.