$25m scam thwarted by NAB bankers

A NAB customer nearly lost $25 million through a scam attempt before one of the major bank’s staff members noticed a crucial red flag.

According to NAB, one of its Sydney-based business bankers, Thurston*, received a call from the long-time business customer who had received an “attractive term deposit rate” from what was assumed to be another reputable bank.

The customer reached out to NAB to ask if the rate could be matched.

Reportedly, suspicions were aroused when the banker noticed that the customer intended on moving $25 million in one transaction.

NAB private wealth bank, Amit*, and investment specialist, Jessi*, were called on by Thurston following the customer call.

“I took a call from Thurston asking if I could investigate a deposit rate his customer received from another bank,” Amit said.

“I gave Jessi from our private investments team a call straight away.

“We went through the various pieces of material sent to the customer from the caller only to discover several red flags.”

According to the major bank, Amit and Jessi noticed various errors when examining the product material that included “odd” logo placement, a different ABN to the bank’s official website, grammatical errors, and an unlisted deposit rate.

At this juncture, the customer was called back within an hour after the “offer” was deduced to be a scam.

*Full names have been omitted by NAB

NAB’s head of broker warns against scams

Adam Brown, executive, broker distribution at NAB, recently spoke at the Better Business Summit 2024 about scam awareness and the prevention measures being taken to combat cyber criminals and scammers.

For example, the major bank has abolished the use of links in unexpected texts to customers as part of its efforts to stop phone number infiltrations and spoofing scams through working in collaboration with telco providers.

This initiative alone saw a 29 per cent decrease in reports of NAB-branded spoofing, according to the major bank.

Additionally, Brown warned earlier this year that scams and cyber crime will continue to be a “constant challenge” throughout 2024.

Customers of the major bank reported an average of 1,500 scam cases every month in 2023, with Brown stating that brokers therefore “need to recognise the red flags and protect themselves and their customers”.

​“Criminals are using sophisticated technology to manipulate victims and we’re seeing new scams emerge in 2024, such as AI voice impersonation, remote access scams using chat and QR code phishing,” he warned.

[RELATED: ‘Brokers need to recognise the red flags’ of scams, warns NAB]