A West Australian mother has narrowly avoided losing her $1.2 million life savings after a bank employee uncovered a sophisticated property settlement scam just hours before she was due to complete the purchase of her first home.
It is reported that the woman had visited Westpac’s Riverton branch believing she was making a routine transfer ahead of buying a $1.7 million property, funded by a $500,000 loan and $1.2 million of her own savings.
However, the payment request she received appeared to come from her solicitor and urged her to urgently transfer the funds into a settlement account.
The urgency immediately raised concerns for personal banker Neet Kukreja, who had supported the customer throughout her home-buying journey.
“She phoned me saying she was preparing for settlement on her home and needed to make a transfer right away,” Ms Kukreja said.
“The customer was quite panicked, and she said she needed to make a transfer because settlement was happening at 12pm Eastern time. I told her to come down to the branch and we would sort it out together.”
Rather than processing the $1.2 million transfer, Ms Kukreja reviewed the email instructions and noticed several warning signs.
The tone of the email appeared different from previous communications, and the payment instructions did not match the usual settlement process.
Her suspicions increased when she discovered that a staff member allegedly involved in the email chain was actually on leave and could not have sent the message.
The scam was ultimately exposed by a tiny spelling mistake in an email address.
The supposed Westpac email address contained “westtpac” — with an extra “t” — instead of the legitimate company name.
The scammers had copied email signatures and communication styles almost perfectly, creating a convincing fake conversation.
“In the same email chain, there was an email from who the customer had dealt with before, confirming the solicitor’s instructions,” Ms Kukreja said.
“But when I checked on Microsoft Teams, I could see that the employee in question was actually on leave and couldn’t have sent the email.”
The bank contacted the settlement agent, who confirmed that no payment request had been issued and revealed that their email account had been compromised.
The customer was left emotional after realising how close she had come to losing her savings.
“She was a young mother and it was her life savings,” Ms Kukreja said.
“When she realised how close she had come, she was in tears.”
The incident highlights the growing threat of business email compromise scams, where criminals hack legitimate accounts and send fake payment instructions to steal large sums of money.
Property settlements have become a major target because of the large amounts transferred under tight deadlines.
Westpac head of fraud prevention Ben Young urged Australians to verify payment requests before transferring funds.
“Buying a property is one of the biggest financial decisions most people will ever make and unfortunately scammers will try to take advantage of that,” he said.
“Anyone asked to transfer funds should slow down and verify the details, particularly if payment instructions change unexpectedly or come through on email.”
National Anti-Scam Centre data shows Australians lost $166.8 million to payment redirection scams in the past year.
Ms Kukreja said scammers often rely on urgency and panic.
“Scammers rely on urgency and fear. Taking a moment to pause, ask questions and verify details could save you a fortune.”
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