“That’s when I knew I was scammed.”

‘You can’t think straight’

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.

“These scammers put you in such a panic, you can’t think straight.”

Disrupting the scam syndicates

“Scammers work tirelessly, adjusting their schedules to target different regions when potential victims are most vulnerable,” Nagel explained to 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.

“We acknowledge that we can’t actually arrest our way out of this problem,” he said.

Australia’s world-first scam prevention legislation

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.

Locke said he hopes the new framework legislation will lead banks to take further steps to protect consumers.

Dealing with the aftermath

“It beggars belief what goes on as people try to seek justice and restitution,” Alex said.

However, after hiring a lawyer, Vicky says her bank reimbursed her almost a year later.