Aussie couple loses $50,000 after receiving a single email – sparking urgent warning over dangerous new scam

A Melbourne couple have lost $50,000 to sophisticated scammers who hijacked emails from their builder and tricked them into sending the money to a fake account.

Kathy Winton and Mark Richter were thrilled to finally start renovating their 1920s bungalow after securing a construction loan with ANZ late last year. 

But their dream home quickly turned into a fraud nightmare as hackers intercepted an email from their builder and sent a fake message claiming the company’s bank account details had changed.

Unaware it was a scam, the couple filled out a form with ANZ entering the scammer’s Commonwealth Bank account as the beneficiary of their payments instead of their builder’s Westpac account.

Mr Richter sent the first instalment without realising the date on the form was wrong.

Eleven days later, they received another email,  also from the scammers,  claiming the bank account had changed again and that a second payment was due.

ANZ staff noticed discrepancies in the invoice and account details but, the couple claim, failed to escalate the matter to the bank’s scam team. 

The builder later told ANZ the new account details were fraudulent,  but by then, the scammers had already withdrawn the money.

Melbourne couple Kathy Winton and Mark Richter lost $50,000 after they became the target of a cruel scam

It took another three weeks before the scam was officially identified – only after the couple themselves noticed the builder’s email address was slightly altered and called the bank.

‘What’s really upset us is that it took that long and it was left to us to realise there’s a scam, when there were all sorts of indicators much earlier on,’ Ms Winton told news.com.au. 

‘It’s been incredibly demoralising and disheartening.’

The pair say they spent hours on the phone to ANZ from overseas trying to report the fraud, only to be disconnected multiple times and transferred between departments.

When they returned to Australia, they discovered the bank had quietly closed the investigation.

ANZ offered them $750 ‘out of goodwill’, a move the couple called insulting.

‘They even tried to flip it and blame us because the date was wrong on the form,’ Mr Richter said. ‘There’s no skin off the bank’s backs, they have a scam team, just send it to them. That should be an internal escalation straight away.’

The couple say ANZ’s paper form process is ‘archaic’ and lacks safeguards to match account details with previous transactions. 

The scammers notified the pair that the bank details for their payment for their renovation had changed and that they had a second installment due 

They had previously transferred $75,000 to their builder via online banking without issue, but registering the new account details in a paper form allowed the scammers’ details to slip through unchecked.

‘The process lacks safeguards to lock in a BSB and account number, exposing customers to fraud,’ Ms Winton said.

Australians lost $152.6 million to payment redirection scams last year, up from $91.6 million in 2023, making them the third most costly scam type after investment and romance fraud.

ANZ told Daily Mail Australia it could not comment on the couple’s case while it was before the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

‘We always attempt to recover funds lost to scams or fraud,’ a spokesperson said. ‘However, the ability to recover funds depends on how quickly it is reported, whether they are transferred to another financial institution, and the speed in which funds are on-transferred by scammers.

‘We encourage individuals to be on high alert and double check all details before making any payments. ANZ takes fraud and scam matters seriously and regularly reviews accounts for suspicious or unauthorised activity.’

The pair had taken out a construction loan with ANZ bank for renovations on their home when an email from their builder was intercepted by a scammer (stock image)

The couple claimed ANZ processes and scam security checks were not up to scratch, with the bank failing to recognise and alert them to the fraud

The AFCA sided with ANZ in a preliminary determination but accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from the bank to fix weaknesses in its risk management and culture.

For Ms Winton and Mr Richter, the experience has been a harsh lesson.

‘It’s been emotionally exhausting,’ Ms Winton said. ‘We’ve done everything we can to protect ourselves, but the systems just aren’t there to keep people safe.’