Walter was told Bendigo Bank would not help him recover the $14,000 he lost to scammers… so he took matters into his own hands

A tree lopper was forced to track down heartless thieves who squandered $14,000 of his money on a spending binge after his bank accused him of being defrauded by the criminals.

Arborist Walter Vantilburg from Melbourne, 59, went hunting for the criminals himself he noticed seven unauthorized transactions at five different JB Hi-Fi stores in Melbourne.

Mr. Vantilburg says he discovered the unauthorized transactions when he paid an employee in September.

He initially hoped his money would be saved when he called Bendigo Bank as many of the transactions were still pending.

Mr Vantilburg claimed the bank told him they ‘didn’t care’ and that nothing could be done to stop them.

The hard-working tree lopper saw his money taken from his bank account via multiple withdrawals worth $1,990.

A dodgy recording also took place while Mr. Vantilburg was on the phone with the bank complaining about the fraud.

Mr Vantilburg immediately canceled his credit card, but when he investigated the matter a few weeks later he was told no fraud had been reported in Bendigo Bank’s system.

Mr Vantilburg also claimed Bendigo Bank told him he was guilty and accused him of providing his credit card details and authorizing its use in an Apple wallet.

He denied this ever happened and has no idea how the thieves gained access to his credit card information he used for his tree-trimming business.

‘The card never leaves me or my wallet. I use it for fuel, it’s really a calling card, that’s the most important thing that it’s used for things like repairs and parts,” he shared news.com.au.

Mr Vantilburg says that he has reported the matter to the police, but that the police need more information to take further action.

Mr Vantilburg, who was left ‘shocked’, started his own investigation and contacted the five JB HiFi stores where the fake transactions took place.

The first store told him that nothing could be done, but that the information would be passed on to their forensics team.

Mr Vantilburg’s visit to the next JB Hi-Fi paid off after the manager printed out all the receipts.

The helpful store manager also discovered footage showing two crooks making tricky purchases.

The Bendigo Bank allowed Mr Vantilburg to investigate the crooks himself

The suspected thieves took three Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 phones, three Google Pixel 9 Pro phones and an iPad Pro with pencil from the five stores.

Mr Vantilburg said he felt he had no choice but to do his own investigation as he had been left in “disbelief” by Bendigo Bank’s response.

‘Here’s what I don’t understand. Bendigo Bank is more or less suggesting I had something to do with it,” he said.

“They said it’s your fault we’re not going to help you – that’s the attitude I got back. I got no help from them. They just said you gave your card to someone.”

Mr Vantilburg says he has been a loyal customer for twenty to thirty years and describes the ‘lack of care’ as ‘unbelievable’.

He said to earn that $14,000 in savings, he had to complete $30,000 worth of work.

Mr. Vantilburg said he is getting married in February and hoped to pay off the last remaining money he owed to his ex-wife, but the loss of $14,000 made the chance for a “fresh start” impossible.

It is understood Bendigo Bank reversed its original decision after his story went public and informed Mr Vantilburg the $14,000 would be refunded.

A Victorian Police spokesperson confirmed police were investigating a suspected theft and fraud incident in Melbourne’s east on September 12.

“It is believed two unknown perpetrators used a stolen credit card at multiple stores in Camberwell, Nunawading, Forest Hill, Eastland and Knox,” the spokesperson said.

“An estimated $14,000 was spent on the credit card. The investigation is still ongoing.’

A spokesperson for Bendigo Bank said it did not comment specifically on customer matters.

He said the bank takes cybersecurity very seriously by protecting their customers and their systems with a variety of cybercrime prevention methods.

‘It is important that customers take steps to protect themselves and do not share their passwords or allow anyone they do not know or trust to remotely log into their computer as it is extremely difficult to recover any money sent to scammers has been transferred,” he said.

“Where possible, Bendigo Bank seeks to recover money lost to fraud and it goes without saying that if the bank is at fault, we will reimburse customers for the loss of money.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.