General News
20 August, 2024
Westpac teller saves Wimmera man from losing $500K in investment scam
Quick-thinking teller saves Wimmera resident from $500K scam.
Imagine saving half a million dollars, only to come within inches of losing it all to a sophisticated scam.
For one Wimmera resident, this terrifying scenario nearly became a reality.
Diane Forward, an attentive teller at the Westpac Horsham Branch, sensed something was off when a customer arrived with what seemed like a golden opportunity.
The customer was eager to transfer $500,000 into an ING term deposit boasting an unusually high interest rate.
"The customer came into the branch wanting to transfer half a million dollars to an ING term deposit," she said.
"I had a look at their printout and straight away I noticed that the interest rate was quite high."
"I said, 'Oh, that's a pretty high interest rate, ' to which they said, 'Well, you guys wouldn't offer that, so I've gone elsewhere'.
"I suggested that maybe we need to look into it further before we send money, because it didn't feel right."
Her intuition led her to double-check the banking details, where she discovered that the BSB didn't match any ING account.
Further investigation revealed that the enticing offer was a complete fabrication.
"The more questions I asked, the more it didn't feel right," she said.
"I jumped on the ING website, and the rates on the website did not compare to what the person was offered.
"We proceeded to ring ING, and they had no record of anything the customer did. It was at that point we were done.
"It was just a basic transfer, and if we didn't do those checks, the money would have been gone."
Ben Young, Head of Fraud Prevention at Westpac, was thankful for Ms Forward's quick thinking.
"Term deposit scams can be devastating because people looking to grow their savings end up losing most, if not all, of their hard-earned money," he said.
"The promise of a high-yield, low-risk opportunity is too tempting.
"Worryingly, many term deposit scams can look legitimate and do not give people a reason to pause.
"If you are contacted directly by a known business or bank about an opportunity, always verify it with the company's website or contact them via a publicly sourced number rather than using the contact details provided to you."
While the customer was overwhelmed, they were thankful for Ms Forward's ineffable work.
"At the end of the day that's my job to protect their money," she said.
"I can't just process it when something's not right. If you know someone who got a deal that is too good to be true, I recommend checking a few things first.
"Honestly, check everything and anything. If you've been talking with someone, look up a phone number. Don't ring from the number they've sent you in the email.
"You have to do all your research, because if it's sounds too good to be true, well, it probably is."
Australians lost $1.3 billion to investment scams in 2023, according to data from the National Anti-Scam Centre's targeting scams report.
Report suspicious contact or activity to Scamwatch at www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam