A business owner was left financially crippled after scammers stole $50,000 despite his warning to the bank to pause the cash transfer.
Wade Brown received a panicked late-night phone call one Friday night in 2022 after his staff noticed $50,000 was missing from the bank account for his business Pure Glass WA – which is located at Margaret River, south of Perth.
The money was sent to a bank account with AMP titled ‘Pure Glasses’ with the description ‘Invoice 21745’.
Mr Brown quickly called his bank, Bankwest, and froze his account. He claimed the bank staff promised to alert AMP of the fraudulent transfer.
However, Mr Brown still felt uneasy so called AMP himself to ensure the funds would not clear.
AMP reportedly told him the transfer would remain pending until Monday.
Despite the reassurance from both banks, the $50,000 was successfully transferred to the AMP account and into the hands of the scammer.
Mr Brown has spent the past two years desperately trying to get his money back, but to no avail.
‘It almost crippled us. $50,000 is a lot in any small business,’ he told news.com.au.
The business owner claims Bankwest told him in 2022 his business was liable for the scam, not the bank, and refused to reimburse him.
Mr Brown then launched a complaint with the n Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
AFCA also concluded the fault lay with Pure Glass WA and that Bankwest was not responsible for reimbursing the business.
While Mr Brown admits the scam ‘could have been a lot worse’, he feels as though the banks cheated him.
He is still trying to piece together how the hackers were able to successfully enter his Bankwest account.
It’s understood the day before the scammer called, Pure Glass suffered an internet outage.
Subsequently, the scammer called pretending to be a Telstra employee investigating issues with the business’ modem.
One of Pure Glass’ employees fell for the scam as the criminal was able to provide details of the business’ modem.
Bankwest claims the employee was then convinced to download software onto the business’ computer, which gave them remote access to Pure Glass’ systems.
Mr Brown claimed even if the scammer did have access to Pure Glass’ computer, they would not be able to access its banking processes because a code must be entered before any transaction is approved.
That code is generated by a dongle kept in a locked room and changed every few minutes.
‘I tried to do two transactions without a security code – it’s impossible,’ Mr Brown said.
Bankwest claimed the scammer was able to obtain the token code by sending it to a registered mobile number.
A Bankwest spokesman would not comment directly on Mr Brown’s case to the outlet but said keeping customers’ funds secure ‘is a priority’.
It added it is ‘accelerating investment’ into its scam-detection technology and claimed it ‘does everything it can to prevent or recall funds lost to scams’.
An AMP spokeswoman said ‘this does seem like a case that would benefit from further investigation’ and urged Mr Brown to make contact again.
‘AMP recognises our important role in working with regulators and other banks to help protect the community from fraudulent activity, and like other organisations, we’ve uplifted and improved our own systems and practices to protect consumers,’ she said.
Daily Mail has contacted both banks for further comment.