Woman scammed out of $730,000
A woman has lost an eye-watering $730,000 after opening an email from who she thought was her settlement agent.
The victim was in the process of purchasing a property in Western Australia and had clicked on the email which asked for money to be deposited into an account they were in control of.
After filling out the “authentic-looking documents”, the scammers were able to take control of $730,000.
Consumer Protection WA confirmed that the settlement agent’s email was hacked by the scammers in what is described as payment redirection scams.
Payment redirection scams are almost impossible to tell the difference between the real and the fake thing.
In this instance, the woman did not think twice that the email would have been a scam after the agent reminded her of the payment.
Consumer Protection executive director Trish Blake said the hack is sophisticated and can make it difficult to know when the hacking took place.
“These scams usually involve the hacking into someone’s email account or computer system but it can be difficult to determine exactly where the hack has occurred,” she told news.com.au.
“The hackers may have successfully guessed the password or installed spyware or malware on computers or laptops after recipients open attachments or click on links in scam emails.
“The losses from these scams can be extremely devastating to the victims who may have lost their home deposit that they have been saving for many years and may not be able to buy the home of their dreams. Or it may be a business doing it tough that can least afford to lose such a large amount of money.”
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