• 84-year-old customer saved from scam
• Banker confronts “spineless coward” scammer after he threatened elderly customer
• Customers warned of callers pressuring them to move money

When Stella* walked into her local NAB branch and asked to increase her internet banking limit, the East Maitland team immediately knew something didn’t add up.

The 84-year-old nervously asked for her daily limit to be lifted from $5,000 to $50,000 so she could transfer money to her son’s account.

Behind the counter of the branch in NSW’s Hunter Valley, customer advisor Tiffany Bailey noticed Stella was on the phone to someone.

“The phone line went dead as soon as the caller heard my voice. Alarm bells started ringing for me straight away. I knew from my training and experience that something is not right here,” Ms Bailey said.

Tiffany then Googled the phone number, which revealed it was linked to a known scam.

“That’s when we were able to sit down with Stella and ask what was really going on,” Ms Bailey said.

“Stella burst into tears, telling us she was being threatened by a man claiming to be from a major tech company. He’d been pressuring her for days into making a $50,000 transfer to settle an outstanding debt. Stella’s adult son was waiting out the front of the branch. He had no idea she was being scammed.”

The criminal also gained remote access to Stella’s computer, generated images to convince her of the debt and coached her what to say to bank staff.

It was then he started calling again.

Branch manager Vanessa Kruger offered to answer the call and Stella agreed. “I told him that we were from NAB and we were on to him,” Ms Kruger said.

“I told him to stop calling Stella and leave her alone. We’d also be reporting him to police. He hung up straight away like a spineless coward.”

The branch team put a temporary block on Stella’s accounts and reassured her no money had been taken. They also sought advice from NAB’s Fraud Operations team, based in Melbourne, who advised Stella her computer should be cleaned.

“She was instantly relieved. It could have so easily been my grandmother in that situation,” Ms Bailey said.

The following week Stella came back into the branch to thank the team.

“She came up to me and gave me a big hug to say thank you. She was still rattled but feeling a lot better. Stella told us she would have been wiped out financially,” Ms Bailey said.

NAB Executive, Group Investigations Chris Sheehan said NAB remained focused on its fight against criminals as part of a bank-wide scam strategy to help protect customers.

“Remote access scams often start with a phone call or computer pop up from someone claiming there’s a problem they can help ‘fix’,” Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police executive, said.

“Recognising scam red flags is crucial. These include a sense of urgency, unexpected contact, being asked to grant someone access to your device and ‘needing’ to move money to keep it ‘safe’.

“If you’re unsure, call the organisation the person claims to be from using details you’ve found yourself. For example, look up the organisation’s website or log in to its app.

“Stopping scams is like playing whack-a-mole. That’s why Australia’s all of ecosystem approach to tackling scams is world-leading.”