PC Scam Resulting In Bank Fraud - Advice Please

overkillxx on 13/03/2019 - 21:39
Last edited 14/03/2019 - 08:41 by 1 other user

Hi everyone.

Cam I please ask for some advice, I have just discovered my father has had his pc hacked and has also been tricked into buying into a bit coin scam.
He was tricked into transferring an initial amount of 40k. His machine I suspect had a key logger on it and his account details were captured and a further 360k was stolen from him. The bank launched a 6 month investigation and said the funds were approved by him to be transferred, we are disputing this, particularly as he is somewhat mentally compromised in his decision making due to a stroke 7* years ago.

I wish to get legal and cyber crime advice on how to challenge the bank and try to recoup some of the funds.
We are seeking to get further information about the case via the bank but in the meantime I want to get professional advice in how to approach this.

Does anyone have any advice on how to approach this situation based on their field of expertise or personal experience in this area?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Financial

Comments

  • sghetti on 15/03/2019 - 10:33
    +2

    A few questions, I work for a financial institution but from a Technology perspective, I have some insights to the Fraud department and some of their processes and assist them in some investigations from time to time. Obviously processes etc. will vary from institution to institution. The comments section is quite lengthy so I don't know if some of these questions were already answered.

    • Did your father initiate the transfers himself, or was it someone who "remoted" into his computer/gained his login credentials via a keylogger, then logged in from elsewhere in the world? Do you have evidence that your father didn't initiate the transactions? If it was a keylogger and the transfers were initiated from elsewhere, the bank would see the IP Address changes and be able to validate this.

    • Have you previously notified the bank that your dad was not of sound mind and required restrictions on his accounts? Has he since called them to unlock the access again? Do you have Power of Attorney over his accounts?

    • What sort of 2nd factor does the bank provide to authorise these sorts of transactions? What are the daily limits? Were the transactions done in large single payments? e.g. 40k in a single transaction, or over multiple transactions? Are these daily limits standard, or have they been increased by your father to send the payments out? If the latter, did the bank question the reasons for the increase? This is fairly standard (not sure if legal obligation though), especially for elderly customers to ensure they aren't being scammed to send large sums out. Even if not legally required, it's pretty poor on the banks behalf not to question it first.

    • sghetti on 15/03/2019 - 10:46
      +3

      If the bank was not notified of any of these, and payments were sent in smaller amounts over months, I think you're going to be hard pressed to get those funds back.

      If the bank has at some point enabled additional access for him, over and above standard limits and haven't questioned it, then you may have an angle to work with there.

      I work for a Credit Union and certainly don't want to necessarily side with the bank/FI. But seeing it from the inside and seeing the costs in investigating these sorts of issues and the enormous costs involved in covering fraud losses for customers in a lot of cases. If they covered every single fraud incident, even ones initiated and authorised from the customers themselves, your account fees and interest rates would not be anywhere near what they are right now.

      Some of the incidents I've seen are absolutely ridiculous. We've detected fraud for older customers before it occurred, when they've asked for their daily limits to be increased, through extended conversations we've identified that they're trying to send funds over to a "russian bride" as they need to get over to Australia. By the end of it they've almost taken us to court as we refused to increase their limits, forcing them to perform transactions slower or blocked them altogether. Eventually coming to a conclusion that they realised they had been scammed, then pleading with us to reimburse their losses.

  • cyrax83 on 15/03/2019 - 17:00

    "He was tricked into transferring an initial amount of 40k. His machine I suspect had a key logger on it and his account details were captured and a further 360k was stolen from him. The bank launched a 6 month investigation and said the funds were approved by him to be transferred, we are disputing this, particularly as he is somewhat mentally compromised in his decision making due to a stroke 7* years ago."

    So he authorized and transferred 40k but then another 360k randomly disappeared? How did he know it was stolen and how long after the fact did he report it to Police/The Bank? I'm not buying it and I think your dad may not be telling you the full story. Also remember once people invest a little, they will come back and invest more - particularly if they initially see some gains.

  • smpantsonfire on 15/03/2019 - 18:53
    +2

    This thread is a joke.

  • ihbh on 15/03/2019 - 21:03

    Can you please check with CBA what the daily transfer limits are. E.g. in Netbank it's $20k; to do more and the max is $100k, you need to go into the branch, I think.

    This might help steer your investigation in the right direction.

  • Gaz1 on 15/03/2019 - 21:30

    I'm very sorry for the situation with your Father & sad for the affect on your family.
    Unfortunately these hoaxes have almost reached epidemic proportions (many people getting calls almost daily) in our society & it is unfortunate that everyone seems powerless to be able to do anything about them.
    The hoax phone calls seem to be getting more daring, and also getting "cleverer" (if you can use that word) about maaking things sound genuine and/or gradually luring people into a false sense of security.
    I can certainly see how old folk could easily be talked into these sorts of scams.
    The latest calls I have been getting say they are from the Visa department & to advise there have been 2 suspect transactions on my card.
    This is exactly the sort of call I would expect from my credit card company & without thinking I might have been tempted to go along with it excpet that they wouldn't say "Visa department" they would say Citibank, Westpac, etc. It's only a matter of time before they catch onto this.
    With the first call I received of this nature I said I don't have a Visa card (normally I hang up immediately but wanted to verify it was a scam), he then said sorry I mean't Bankcard, so then hung up.

    Its sad that these sorts of scams continue & I suspect it will get a lot worse….

    • Gaz1 on 16/03/2019 - 16:05

      … the other thing I will add is that for all the hassle we give the Australian banking industry & its red tape, this sort of scam would be a lot harder to get away with if we didn't have the "anonymous" payment systems such as Bitcoin.
      One wonders if Bitcoin should have some responsibility for being an "accessory" to the fraud.

  • cyrax83 on 01/04/2019 - 21:45
    +1

    So what happened?

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