True stories - real victims of fraud
04 March 2007
Leanne Vale, Fraud Prevention Manager with Abacus – Australian Mutuals, the association for credit unions and mutual building societies, said more than $150,000 has been scammed from just two trusting credit union members in the past month, with many more incidents going unreported.
“As credit unions and other financial institutions introduce more security barriers to stop cyberthieves, these scam-artists are investing more time to build relationships and establish trust,” Ms Vale said.
“Phishing fraud – where emails are sent masquerading as being from your bank or credit union and asking for your bank details – is still extremely common.
“But as the more and more people have learned to ignore those emails, the fraudsters are resorting to scams where they befriend Australians before asking for money to support their family, travel to Australia or to meet extortion debts.
”These criminals go to great length to perpetrate these scams, often being in daily contact with their victims over a period of months.
“They are professional con-men – building relationships of such trust that in some cases the victims refuse to believe they are being conned, no matter how much evidence is before them.”
Ms Vale said these crimes are insidious, leaving innocent people embarrassed and having lost their life savings.
“The best way to avoid being conned is to slam the spam. Don’t take the bait, don’t respond to even the first email or approach. And the minute anyone asks for money, be doubly cautious,” Ms Vale said.
“Your credit union or building society will never ask for your password, pin number or personal banking details in an email, an on-line message or in an undisclosed phone call, so don’t hand them over to anybody.
“And don’t send anyone you don’t know money – unless you are prepared to lose it forever.”
Ms Vale said Abacus and its member credit unions and mutual building societies are working with a number of Federal and State/Territory Governments through the Australian Consumer Fraud Taskforce and the Australian High Tech Crime Centre to help members combat crime and keep their money safe.
Credit unions and mutual building societies are participating in the Australian Consumer Fraud Taskforce’s Scamwatch campaign, which is a national month-long campaign designed to rasie community-awareness about scams and fraud prevention.
Case studies follow.
Leanne Vale is a former Australian Federal Police officer and now leads the fraud fighting efforts for over 130 credit unions and building societies across Australia. She is available for interviews and to provide a number of case studies about cyber-fraud activities.
Media contact:
Louise Petschler
(02) 8299 9046 or
(0408) 239 226
True stories of fraud in 2007
Case 1
A credit union was approached by one of its members requesting a sizable personal loan. When asked what the loan was for, the member explained that a number of months before he had received an email from a family in Africa requesting his assistance to move a very large sum of money, which was tied up in legal wrangling, to Australia. All he had to do was help with some legal expenses at their end.
By the time the member was requesting the loan, which he intended to send overseas, he had already sent tends of thousands of dollars to these people.
The entire story was, of course, a scam. The scammers had won the trust of the member by sending him highly emotional communications, preying on his good nature and desire to help those less fortunate, to send many instalments of money over a period of several months, each time claiming that this one will release the millions of dollars for them. They would then come to Australia and live with him. The credit union was able to alert the member to the scam, refuse the loan, and prevent further loss.
Case 2
A member of a building society joined an online dating agency. Before long, he was contacted by a lady from Russia who described him as her perfect match. She sent him photographs of herself and declared her undying love for him. All she wanted was to move to Australia so they could be married. All he needed to do was send her money to cover the legal costs of visas and such like.
By the time the building society convinced the member that he was being scammed, he was planning to send almost $50k to his “fiancée”.
The scammers had preyed upon the members loneliness, convincing with very personal emails that this was the woman of his dreams, to such an extent that he would do anything for her. The building society was able to intervene and stop the member losing more funds to the criminals.
For more information or to arrange an interview with Abacus, please contact:
Louise Petschler
(02) 8299 9046 or
(0408) 239 226
