Woman, 74, loses $46,000 in scam

Australian Associated Press
July 27, 2017

An elderly Melbourne woman has lost more than $46,000 to an organised overseas scamming network which groomed her for a week, asking her to buy more than 330 iTunes gift cards as part of their fraud.

The 74-year-old Hawthorn woman was contacted by an overseas scammer by phone earlier this month, who claimed to work for a major telco, police said.

The offenders gained remote access to the woman’s computer and online banking and told her they had deposited money into her account to ‘help fix her security’ then asked her to withdraw it and send it via MoneyGram to various bank accounts in India.

The offenders also requested the victim withdraw cash, purchase more than 330 iTunes gift cards and relay the gift card codes over the phone in order to ‘fix her security problem’, police said. 

Yarra Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Cameron Mitchell says it was a cruel, targeted attack which took place over seven days.

“The offenders made transfers of cash between the victim’s three bank accounts in order to confuse her and make it look like the balance of her account was increasing,” Det Sen Const Mitchell said in a statement.

“The victim believed she was transferring the telco’s money to the overseas accounts when in fact it was her own.

“It has been a traumatic experience for the victim and there is a message everyone can take from this.”

Residents are urged to report any scams of this nature to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) at www.acorn.gov.au and to ensure they do not buy any vouchers.