Woman buying a house scammed out of $813,000 after failing to detect tiny difference in fake email
An Australian woman trying to buy a house was fleeced out of $813,000 after sopisticated scammers impersonated an email address.
Cybercriminals used a fake email with just one letter different to her conveyancer's to deceive the South Australian home buyer in May last year.
The Australian Federal Police said the victim's money was diverted to a fraudulent bank account due to a business email compromise (BEC), a common type of phishing attack.
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The SA woman was buying a home when she lost $813,000 to a scammer impersonating her conveyancer. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Two days after her money went missing, the woman realised the mistake and reported the incident to the bank and police.
The AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) worked with state and territory police, along with multiple financial institutions, to track down and freeze the scammer's bank account.
The bank account was traced to a Pakistani national, the AFP said.
They retrieved $505,000 of the stolen funds but found $308,000 had already been lost, $297,000 of which was transferred to a cryptocurrency account.
After tracing the account to digital currency exchange Binance, JPC3 froze $272,000.
Another $25,000 had already been moved out of the cryptocurrency account.
Officers shared intelligence with the Pakistani National Response Centre for Cyber Crime and eventually identified the Pakistani national as a "money mule" who opened accounts in his name for criminals to launder illicit funds.
The scammer used an email address with one letter different to her conveyancer's. Getty
JPC3 managed to return another $272,000 to the woman in March this year.
The victim had a total of $777,000 returned to her, 96 per cent of the original $813,000 which was stolen.
AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Darryl Parrish said this fraud case was a serious example of why Australians should double- and triple-check emails and details when transferring money.
"While the investigation resulted in a successful outcome for the victim, it took nearly 12 months for her to recover most of the funds, which undoubtedly had an emotional and financial impact on her daily life," he said.
"The criminal had created a fake email address that looked like the legitimate business email.
"It is crucial for people to double-check emails, particularly email addresses and banking details, to avoid becoming victims of BEC scams."
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The AFP shared this timeline of the email scam. AFP
The investigation, involving Australian and international law enforcement agencies, into the criminal group behind this fraud is ongoing.
According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), reported BEC losses amounted to almost $80 million during 2022-2023.
On average, the financial loss from BEC incidents was over $39,000.
If you are a victim of cybercrime, you can report it to police using Report Cyber.
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