Home buying scams affecting more Australians

Gabor Szathmari, founder of Iron Bastion and a cybersecurity expert, said the “brutal specialisation” of financial crime meant different criminal gangs focused on different areas of fraud. One gang might focus on hacking emails to get information about large transactions, while another might steal driver’s licenses, passports and other identification to open new bank accounts.

“Unfortunately, crime is profitable and technology has enabled criminals to commit fraud on a large scale through the internet. For example, phishing emails can be sent in bulk and automated phone calls can be made without human intervention,” he said.

In Australia, banks are not legally required to perform name verification or confirmation on recipients of bank transfers, although Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Banks are advised to implement these checks as early as 2022, and Consumer Groups This requirement will also be made in 2019.

Szathmari’s colleague, attorney Nick Kavadias, said it was easier for fraudsters to target businesses such as real estate agents and conveyancers than to rob banks because they might not store personal information securely.

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“I’ve seen (scammers) hack into email systems and then they steal all the emails, look for keywords like ‘contract’ or ‘sales’ or whatever, and then they proceed to wait for the right time to send (the victim) an email pretending to be a lawyer saying ‘hey, these are the payment instructions’ and they copy and paste previously received emails and footers so it looks legitimate,” he said.

Cybertrace chief executive Dan Halpin, formerly of ASIO and NSW Police, said international fraud gangs targeted gullible Australians because we had access to large sums of money, which was “essentially a trap”.

“I know some victims have suffered from severe depression and I’ve even heard of cases where victims have committed suicide because they lost their money first and received limited support and the police didn’t take them seriously,” he said.

PEXA Group Chief Information Technology Security Officer David Willett said bank transfer fraud had increased during COVID-19, had fallen last year but was now on the rise again.

“We are starting to see an upward trend as countries around the world grapple with the cost of living, geopolitical disputes and major elections,” he said.

In October 2023, Levin Salaberry and his partner Tina Damcesvka lost $91,650 in a home purchase scam when a CommBank branch teller transferred the money to another “mule” CommBank account that NSW police said was set up using a stolen identity.

Between October 18, 2023 and June 12 of this year, Saraberry’s bank recovered $44,971.22, leaving him with a huge loss of $46,678.78.

The Commonwealth Bank had offered to pay him a further $4582.50 “to settle the matter without admitting enrolment”, but he had not accepted.

Saraberry, 42, was tortured by the scam – his heart would skip a beat every time he heard the notification ring on his phone. “He became closed off, a shell,” said Damsesevka, 50, an office worker.

Mr Salbery was initially unable to complain to AFCA because he had to log into an online portal to do so, which, as a victim of cybercrime, he did not want to do. He is now dealing with the matter.

“I don’t have a computer. I don’t sit in my office and send emails. I don’t answer calls from people I don’t know,” said the construction worker, explaining that he would copy and paste every number that called him into WhatsApp so he could see if the other person had a legitimate profile and photo.

Technology developed by anti-fraud firm BioCatch helped banks discover more than 150,000 money-laundering mule accounts last year, but it is unclear whether the banks have closed them.

“It’s not just fraud and scams, it’s money laundering and all types of financial crime that are more sophisticated, more sophisticated, faster and more numerous than ever before,” said Richard Booth, an executive at BioCatch, whose fraud detection and anti-money laundering technology is used by nine of the 10 largest banks.

Most people hold bank accounts that meet the 100-point identity requirement. Mule Account Moving the stolen funds overseas or converting them into cryptocurrency would appear to violate Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, which require banks to report suspicious transactions over $10,000.

The bank has announced “Anti-Fraud Protocol” Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones announced that the $100 million will be invested in the project to ensure that the name and account number match when transferring money online. New legislation Forcing banks to identify suspicious accounts, but these measures have not yet been implemented.

In response to questions from the newspaper, Jones said the law would require banks and social media companies, among others, to fulfill strict obligations to prevent scammers from preying on victims.

“It is government policy that all bank accounts established or maintained illegally should be closed,” he said.

Solicitors and conveyancers have a duty to warn homebuyers about the risks of misdirected payments and that the transfer of settlement funds is best completed in person or via a video call to transfer the funds to the correct account.

Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh said banks were rolling out tools including confirmation systems to help curb fraud, were closing mule accounts and using more biometric checks to help verify the identity of people opening new accounts.

She called on tech companies to put in place protections to prevent email accounts from being hacked. “Banks have to compensate customers if bank accounts are hacked, and there is a question here as to whether tech companies should compensate customers when email accounts are hacked,” she said.

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