Couple made 'offensive' offer by bank after being fleeced of life savings in sophisticated scam
A Victorian couple has lost nearly $100,000 to a devastating and sophisticated scam that wiped their life savings, and been offered just an "offensive" amount in repayment by their bank.
James and Sarah said they fell victim to the scam, which fleeced them of $98,000, in August after they received a text message asking them to update their bank details.
Shortly after "mistakenly" clicking into the link, James told 9News he received a text message from his bank, Westpac, which mimicked its genuine number.
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James and Sarah have lost nearly $100,000 to a devastating and sophisticated scam. Nine
He said the text message notified him that he might have been scammed, so he called the number to sort it out.
After speaking with a person from what he believed was the Westpac fraud department, he was reassured that the scam was caught early.
He was notified to shut down his account and open a new one.
But it was all a scam, and the person was illegitimate.
"Over the coming days, we worked with the (fraud department) receiving confirmations along the way, it felt legitimate and secure to transfer our savings across to the new account," James said.
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The couple received a text message asking them to update their bank details in August last year Nine
"Days later, we realised that the new account wasn't coming and we contacted the relevant people."
Sarah said they have received little help or information from Westpac.
"I just would like to see some sort of acknowledgment that they will work on it, it's going to be an issue going forward for sure," she said.
The couple has lost $98,000, and have little hope of recovering it.
"It's been a long battle and we haven't seen any results as of yet, which isn't a great thing," James said.
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"The hardest thing for me has been the mental side of things and to dwell on it. We have had to reevaluate our priorities.
"We purchased our first home and we lost close to $100,000. That money was there to pay off our mortgage and it makes a massive difference to lose that."
Westpac has offered to repay the couple just $3000 to resolve the complaint but that was seen as nothing more than a kick in the guts.
"It's offensive, $3000 isn't going to change anything," Sarah said.
Westpac was contacted and said they would not comment on specific cases.
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