Telephone / Internet Scams

[Anonymous]

…. or both.

(Yes, I did mean dyslexic, thanks Duncan)

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Just because it looks all right? You better look very very very carefully.

We recently bought a new house. An exciting time. The usual thing we paid a nominal deposit on the day pending payment of the full amount a couple of days later. Having looked at a number of properties with the same estate agent we knew several of the sales staff and the name of the sales office accountant who had properly handled the initial deposit.

All good so far.

A couple of days later we received an email telling us the bank account details for the rest of the deposit, The email used the logo and office details of the agency together with the names of the sales agent and the details of the amount owing. However, there was one difference. the bank account details had changed to a new account number. Apart from that it looked like the initial deposit email.

Luckily this triggered an alarm in our minds. It was then that we also noticed a difference in the web address, so we phoned the agency to check the validity of the email. They were shocked! They knew nothing of the infiltration of their computer. And yes! it was a scam.

I later found out that this bank account number was indeed a genuine Australian bank account number. The Police told me that this is the norm. However, any money paid into that account would have been whisked out of the country in seconds.

 

What had happened is that the estate agent’s office computer system had been hacked. The hackers had gained access to the records of current sales taking place at the time and were able to construct bogus documents to use against current transactions. With all the correct names and logos in place.

We were lucky, the small discrepancies triggered that essential check phone call. Had we not done that we would have suffered a substantial loss. As I understand it another client did not notice. and was snared by the scammers net. I don't know if they were compensated. I suspect not.

As a consequence, the estate agent shut their offices for several weeks while a new system was put in place.

We made the payment in person at the estate agents bank after checking the credentials of the account with the bank manager.

In Australia Property is now settled by computer, not like in the past where the conveyancing Layers for the parties concerned sat around a table. and exchanged documents.

Our lawyer who conducted the final settlement told us that many lawyers and other businesses that handle cash had also been hacked in a similar way. She told me that in spite of automation they always telephone other parties verbally and only use account numbers obtained verbally having confirmed that there is no possibility that the party on the other end of the phone is a scammer.

While the settlement is normally done by a layer in Australia the deposit is usually just done personally, typically about 10%, a substantial amount of cash to loose.

The event also triggered a long investigation by our two banks not because we were affected but because they were trying to set up defenses to counter this sort of activity, however in my discussions with them I gleaned that as soon as the cash is out of the country it is almost impossible to recover it.

Naturally we had put a stop on all our bank accounts immediately, We did not know what sort of information the scammers had.

Just because it looks all right? You better look very very very carefully.

Edited By John McNamara on 11/11/2021 13:16:44

Edited By John McNamara on 11/11/2021 13:18:06

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