Latest news with #PEXA
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Louis was about to buy his first home after working six-day weeks for years. But with just a click of a button, the young tradie lost everything
A young tradie who spent six years working to save for a house deposit lost $110,000 in the single click of a button after falling victim to an elaborate scam. Sydney electrician Louis May, 24, found the perfect apartment to buy as his first property in July last year. He said it needed a little work but he was overall 'very excited' about getting to own his first home, having worked six 10-hour days a week for years. As he moved forward with the property purchase, his lawyer contacted him from two different email addresses. When he received an invitation to sign a Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) form from a third email address, he thought nothing of it. Mr May even contacted his bank, Commonwealth Bank, to check everything was above board before following the instructions enclosed in the email which asked him to deposit a maximum of $100,000 at a time in the PEXA fund. However, come the day of his property settlement, Mr May's lawyer called him to say the $110,000 transfer was not in his account. 'I said, "I did what you had told me"... he said, "I'd never emailed you a PEXA form",' Mr May said on SBS Insight. 'My heart dropped. 'That was the moment that I realised I was scammed.' Mr May's mother Alex Brooks helped him to try trace the origins of the scam. 'Someone obviously had breached his confidential home-buying details,' she said. She talked with multiple cybersecurity experts and paid thousands for online forensics experts. Ms Brooks maintains her son was not responsible for the breach of his personal and purchasing details. CBA ultimately offered him $1,000 in compensation which he flatly denied. 'It beggars belief what goes on as people try to seek justice and restitution,' Ms Brooks said. Mr May was fortunately able to receive a loan from a family member, allowing him to settle on the apartment albeit with an extra $600 interest rate each month. 'It's pretty heartbreaking,' Mr May said. 'I'll just start again, I was supposed to renovate, I was supposed to do a lot. 'But, in that time, all I have done is just kind of put a bed in and just got straight to back to work... it's taken a toll on me.' Agent Cody Nagel, of the Joint Policing Cyber Crime centre at the Australian Federal Police (AFP), said a cybercrime is reported every six minutes in Australia. He said the AFP is trying to bring public and private sectors together to interrupt criminal scammers and prosecute those responsible. 'We acknowledge that we can't actually arrest our way out of this problem,' he told the program.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussie tradie loses $110,000 house deposit due to small detail: ‘My heart dropped'
A young tradie has shared how he lost his $110,000 first-home deposit following one email. Scammers are posing as genuine businesses that Aussies have dealt with and sending fake invoices with altered payment details to steal their money. Sydney tradie Louis May had been working 10-hour shifts, six days a week, as an electrician to save up a deposit for his first property in July last year. The 24-year-old had sorted out his finances and found an affordable apartment. The apartment needed work, but he was 'very excited' about the prospect of moving out to his own place. Through the buying process, his lawyer had contacted him using two different email accounts. RELATED Aussie couple loses $170,000 house deposit over to two-letter error $105,000 superannuation warning over growing 'mini-retirement' trend NAB, ANZ slash interest rates as lenders move despite RBA cash rate hold: 'Not a coincidence' 'So when I got an email from a third account, I didn't really think much of it. I had corresponded for a few days with the new third email address,' he told SBS Insight. 'I got sent a PEXA [Property Exchange Australia] form that instructed me to transfer money into a BSB and account number into an ANZ account.' After speaking with his bank, Commonwealth Bank, May said he followed the instructions from the email and transferred $110,000 into the account. But on the morning of his property's settlement, he received a call from his lawyer advising him that the $110,000 wasn't in his account. 'When I said: 'I did what you had told me', and he said 'I'd never emailed you a PEXA form', my heart dropped,' he said. 'That was the moment that I realised I was scammed.'The consumer watchdog, the ACCC, said fake invoice scams, similar to the one May experienced, were 'hard to detect' because the scammer would either hack into the email system of the business or impersonate the business's email address by changing as little as one letter. Australians reported losing $16.2 million to payment redirection scams in 2023. Despite the total number of reports to Scamwatch decreasing by 28 per cent, the total amount lost was up 3 per cent. The ACCC said the most common industries targeted by the scam were those that regularly dealt with large transfers of money, such as real estate, legal and construction companies. However, it has also received reports of car dealerships, travel companies, and their customers being targeted. 'If you receive an invoice via email, take the time to call the business on a number you have found yourself to confirm that the payment details are correct,' ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe has urged. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) acts as the external dispute resolution scheme and helps resolve disputes with banks, insurers and super funds. AFCA CEO David Locke said the law was 'inadequate' when it came to scams and the codes that apply were not designed to deal with the types of situations we are dealing with. 'There is a real need, and we have been calling for a long time, for legislation and regulations to better protect consumers in this space,' he told Insight. Locke said he hopes the new framework legislation will lead banks to take further steps to protect consumers, such as confirmation of payee. This is designed to reduce scam losses by letting customers know when a payment recipient's name doesn't match up to other account details. "Most people out there would never for a minute think that banks are not required to check the name that's given against the BSB and account number," he said. May reported the scam to his bank but has been unable to recover his $110,000 deposit. He was offered a $1,000 remediation payment, which he did not accept. May was able to purchase the apartment with the help of a loan from a family member. But he said he has no money left to fix up the place, and he is paying $600 more a month in interest as he had to take out a bigger mortgage. 'It's pretty heartbreaking. I feel like I'm further back than I was last year, even still now," he said. "It's definitely taken a toll on me."
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Louis thought he was going to be a homeowner at 23. A rogue email threatened his dream
When every ping or buzz on our device could be a scammer, how can we recognise any red flags and protect ourselves? Insight hears from those who've been hit hard by scammers but are fighting back. Watch Insight episode Scammed on Tuesday 8 July on SBS at 8.30PM or live on SBS On Demand . Tech-savvy Louis May never thought he'd fall victim to a scam. "I think I was quite arrogant about it at the time," Louis told Insight. "I thought ... I'm a young person. I'm not going to fall for a phone call where someone is pretending to be someone else." So, when Louis received an email from an address he thought was his lawyer's, he didn't anticipate it would lead to him losing his $110,000 house deposit . Louis had been working 10-hour shifts as an electrician, six days a week for years, and had enough saved for his first property at age 23. Through the buying process, Louis' lawyer had contacted him using two different email accounts. So, when he received an email from a third account instructing him to fill out a Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) form, he didn't think much of it. Following the instructions from the third email account and after speaking with his bank, he transferred $110,000 into an account of a different bank. On the day of his property's settlement, Louis' lawyer called to tell him that the promised $110,000 wasn't in his account. "When I said: 'I did what you had told me', and he said 'I'd never emailed you a PEXA form', my heart dropped. "That was the moment that I realised I was scammed." 'You can't think straight' After Vicky Schaefer noticed a $1,500 transaction in her banking app, she knew she hadn't made herself, she immediately contacted her bank's fraud department. She asked the bank to freeze all her accounts, which the bank did, and it told her it would call her back when it had more information about the fraudulent charge. Three hours later, Vicky received a call — from who she thought was her bank — claiming someone was trying to breach her account again. "[The caller ID said it was my bank's] fraud department. I thought that's amazing; they got back to me so quickly." But it was not her bank. It was a scammer who had cloned the bank's phone number. Vicky's bank account was drained of $47,000 by scammers. Source: SBS The scammer then took over Vicky's phone by way of verification codes and took $47,000 out of her bank account while she was on the phone with them. "All I could do was to sit there and watch all my money just get taken out of my account," Vicky said. "These scammers put you in such a panic, you can't think straight." Disrupting the scam syndicates A cybercrime is reported every six minutes in Australia, according to Cody Nagel , who works for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in its Joint Policing Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. He said scams are driven by internationally based organised crime networks, often operating like a business with different arms, with scams funding other kinds of criminal activity. "These people are working every single day ... They're working in the morning and the night, targeting different jurisdictions based on the most lucrative time" for when people are most susceptible," Nagel told Insight. Cody Nagel works in the AFP's Joint Policing Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. Source: SBS Nagel said the AFP is focused on bringing public and private industry together to disrupt and prosecute scams. "I can look across the room at somebody from a financial institution and say: 'Do you have a bank account with this number? Can we stop that money? Can we get that money back for this customer?" With further collaboration and sharing of intelligence between banks and law enforcement, Nagel suggests scams can be disrupted. "We acknowledge that we can't actually arrest our way out of this problem," he said. Australia's world-first scam prevention legislation In February, Australia passed world-first scam prevention legislation with the new Scams Prevention Framework. Under this legislation, banks, mobile networks, and social media companies are required to take reasonable steps to prevent, detect, disrupt, and report scams, or face significant fines. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) acts as the External Dispute Resolution scheme for the first three sectors (banks, telcos, and social media companies) — helping people to resolve disputes with banks, insurers and superannuation funds. However, some consumer groups have criticised the Framework legislation, as it won't force offending businesses to automatically compensate scam victims. The UK has introduced a scheme that forces banks to reimburse a customer who has been scammed, usually within five days — provided they haven't acted with gross negligence or fraudulently. Some groups have called for a modified version of UK model to be implemented in Australia. AFCA CEO David Locke said Australian law has largely been inadequate when it comes to scams. He believes that mandatory codes would ensure stronger action and a stronger chance for fair dispute resolution. "Most people out there would never for a minute think that banks are not required to check the name that's given against the BSB and account number," he told Insight. (Many banks have started to implement Confirmation of Payee this year, an anti-scam measure checking that bank details match the account name.) Locke said he hopes the new framework legislation will "make the banks take much further step to protect consumers". Dealing with the aftermath Louis' mum Alex Brooks helped him navigate the aftermath of being scammed. "Someone obviously had breached his confidential home-buying details," she said. Since the scam, Alex has interviewed multiple cybersecurity experts and has paid thousands of dollars for website forensics. She says that her findings infer that Louis wasn't responsible for the breach of his details. Alex says Louis' bank offered him a remediation payment of $1,000, which he did not accept. "It beggars' belief what goes on as people try to seek justice and restitution," Alex said. Vicky has also had a trying time getting financial reparation. Even though it was the bank's number that had been cloned, Vicky felt it was blaming her for the funds lost in the scam. However, after hiring a lawyer, Vicky says her bank reimbursed her almost a year later. I thought it was going to be a really, really good time in my life. But unfortunately, I've been knocked way back down. Louis May Unlike Vicky, Louis has not been able to recover the money he was scammed out of. He says he still feels the toll. "I thought it was going to be a really, really good time in my life. But unfortunately, I've been knocked way back down." Louis, now 24, was still able to settle on the small apartment after receiving a loan from a family member; but is now paying an extra $600 a month in interest. "It's pretty heartbreaking," he said. "I feel like I'm further back than I was last year — even still now." If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000. If you've had your personal or financial information stolen, immediately contact your bank or credit card provider and tell them to stop any transactions. You can report scams to Scamwatch or ReportCyber .
ABC News
02-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
After Louis lost $109k to scammers, banks are finally combatting the 'flaw' the scammers used
Louis May lost his $109,000 first home deposit to scammers in July last year. The scam began with an email, purporting to be from his conveyancer, requesting property settlement, and included account details and a fraudulent PEXA (Property Exchange Australia) form. The 24-year-old Sydney-based tradesman made two payments, but two days later received a message from the bank asking for settlement funds. "It was the morning that I was supposed to get the keys to my new apartment," he said. "It was the most horrible feeling I've ever had. "I had to be on two phones at the same time to try to sort everything out. I couldn't work out what had gone wrong and was on hold for ages trying to call the police, call the bank, call the lawyers, call anyone." He spoke to his conveyancer, discovered the scam, and immediately reported it to the bank. But the money was gone. Now, the banking sector is rolling out a system intended to combat the security flaw the scammers used to trick him. The system is called "Confirmation of Payee", and is intended to reduce scam losses by telling customers when a payment recipient's name does not match other account details. The technology is intended to combat fake invoice and payment redirection scams, similar to the kind perpetrated against Mr May, which cost Australians $152.6 million last year. Major and mid-tier banks would implement the system during July, the Australian Banking Association (ABA) said, with all other deposit-taking institutions like credit unions and building societies rolling it out by the end of the year. While acknowledging the positive step, consumer and victim advocates criticised the banking sector for lagging behind other countries, and said the way Confirmation of Payee was designed meant customers often accepted liability for scams. For Mr May, the technology came too late, and it's unclear whether it would have averted the scam. He took his case to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). In its determination, AFCA found the bank had told Mr May it only used BSB and account number when processing the electronic payments, advising him to check these details were correct. As he prepared to send the second transfer of $100,000, he also received a warning the BSB and account number were not found in the bank's records, meaning the account could be new, or received few payments. "Scammers sometimes use new accounts to avoid detection — speak to the payee to check it's really them requesting the payment and confirm the BSB and account number," the warning stated. Mr May acknowledged he received the warning and had ticked a box stating he had read it, but said he went ahead believing the instructions had come from his conveyancer. "I was worried I could lose my deposit or stuff up buying my house if I didn't transfer the money," he said. "I have never done a bank transfer for such a large sum of money in my life before. I thought the bank would have my back." AFCA deemed the bank's warnings to be adequate, and determined the bank was not required to compensate or take further action. AFCA also noted the bank recalled the disputed transactions the day the scam was flagged, but no funds could be recovered. Banks had invested $100 million in the new Confirmation of Payee technology, the ABA said. Adrian Lovney, spokesperson for Australian Payments Plus which developed the Confirmation of Payee system, said the service was "a simple concept" but one that "adds a powerful extra layer of protection for everyday transactions". ABA chief executive Anna Bligh said while Australia was one of the only countries in the world where scam losses were reducing, investing further in scam-fighting tech was crucial. A national awareness campaign to educate customers about the new technology is set to be run under the tagline: "Check the name. Spot the scam". Financial losses reported to Scamwatch decreased by 33 per cent between 2023 and 2024, from $476.8 million to $318.8 million. However, losses were up in the first five months of this year compared to last year, climbing from $114.8 million $147.1 million, according to Scamwatch data. An ABA spokesperson said scam losses in Australia would inevitably fluctuate but the overall trend was down. The new service activates when a customer makes a first-time payment using a BSB and account number. After entering the account name and payment details, and before making a payment, a matching service checks whether the information matches the recipient's bank data. If details match, the account name will be displayed for confirmation. If there's a close match, for example John Smyth instead of John Smith, the customer will see the account name and can confirm if it's correct. Where details don't match, the customer will be shown a warning. The true account holder's name won't be shown to help protect privacy, except for some business and government accounts. Once a warning was given, it was up to the customer to decide if the payment goes ahead. Witnessing what happened to her son Louis, Alex Brooks started her own podcast where she speaks to other scam victims, and became the vice president of advocacy group Scam Victim Alliance. Confirmation of Payee may have helped her son detect the scam, but she is still critical of the approach banks have taken. She said a system that warned of a mismatch and then required the customer to decide whether the payment progressed put the onus upon the customer to detect the scam. "The banks 'name checking' services online will continue to be more of a way to make customers fully liable for transfers," she said. The rollout of Confirmation of Payee was flagged at a global anti-scam roundtable in June during which the ABA also flagged that all new bank accounts would require biometric checks from the start of July. Biometric checks usually involve some form of facial scan, but could also include fingerprint scanning, or behavioural analytics that verify customers' identities. The roundtable offered a comparison point on how Australia compared with other countries in combating scams. While Australia compared well to the US, it compared less favourably to the UK, which introduced Confirmation of Payee in 2020. The UK has also made banks liable for most scam losses up to 85,000 British pounds ($177,530) since October, with repayment split between the sending and receiving bank, unless the bank proved the customer had been negligent. UK banks were not liable for some types of transaction, including for scam payments made via cash or crypto, international transfer, or via the likes of Paypal. Speaking on the UK's progress, Robert Harris, from fraud detection company Feedzai, said since October 86 per cent of fraud losses had been reimbursed to customers. Repayment being split between the sending and receiving bank has also fostered more collaboration and information exchange to stop fraud, with 86 per cent of receiving banks being told of the scam within two hours of the customer flagging with their bank, Mr Harris said. Consumer Action Law Centre chief executive Stephanie Tonkin said compensation rates in Australia were far lower, and the country should adopt a similar model to the UK, making banks more liable. She pointed to recent Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reports showing banks were reimbursing two to seven per cent of scam losses. "So victims are paying billion-dollar losses, which is extraordinary," she said. Ms Tonkin said scam victims could bring a case against a bank if the bank had failed to meet responsibility standards, but it was on the victim to prove the business's failures had caused the loss. An ABA spokesperson said where banks were at fault, they reimbursed customers, and that would continue. The spokesperson argued a UK-style model risked undermining Australia's "whole-of-scam-chain approach". "It also fails to incentivise other sectors such as telecommunications and social media platforms which actually deliver scams to customers … to improve or strengthen their protections," the spokesperson said. Ken Gamble, chairman of cybercrime investigation agency IFW Global, described the lack of payee verification as a "fundamental flaw" in the banking system which had incubated "a billion-dollar scam industry." "I'm just in disbelief banks haven't changed this flaw years and years ago," he said. Mr Gamble said among the most common scams exploiting lack of payee verification were term deposit scams. Victims would search online for term deposit comparisons, click on a fraudulent website, and be contacted by someone claiming to be from a bank. The victim would deposit money into an account they thought was in their name, and because there was no name verification, the victim would not be told the account was actually in another's name. Mr Gamble welcomed the inclusion of biometric checks for new bank accounts but said it would not solve "the money mule-problem" – where scammers used the accounts of real people, who were often ignorant they were involved in a crime, who allowed their accounts to be used for a small fee. An ABA spokesperson said banks now have enhanced intelligence sharing with each other to help combat mules. "We know international criminal gangs will continue to evolve their tactics and find new ways to steal money — it's therefore crucial government, banks, telcos, digital platforms as well as consumers all play an ongoing role in the fight against scammers." Confirmation of Payee was a key initiative of the sector's "Scam-Safe Accord" — a set of safeguards banks signed up to in 2023 following a sharp rise in scam losses. Most other initiatives in the accord are complete, including intelligence sharing between banks, limiting of payments to high-risk channels like crypto exchanges, and implementation of a comprehensive anti-scam strategy, the ABA says. An initiative to introduce warnings and delays for transactions to new unknown payees has been implemented for over 90 per cent of retail customers, the ABA says. For Mr May, the loss of his first home deposit has had a lasting impact. With the help of his family, he was able to settle on the home, but it left him with no money to fix up the apartment he bought, and he was unable to move in. "I had to keep taking overtime, so I worked pretty much seven days a week to try to get the strata levy together," he said. "It's on your mind all the time, until you work out you just have to put it out of your head to get away from it."
AU Financial Review
06-06-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Sympli puts up the white flag, proposes working with arch-rival PEXA
Sympli, the ASX-backed property settlement provider that has fought for years to connect with the banks and break a PEXA monopoly on conveyancing services, has conceded that this is unlikely and proposed giving up that business and work with its larger rival instead. PEXA, which was a collection of government-owned agencies before it was privatised in 2019, controls almost the entire property transfer market, worth some $300 million in fees. The now ASX-listed business counts the Commonwealth Bank as its single largest shareholder.
