Burnie banker recovers stolen money

24.09.2025

• NAB banker helps local recover $15,000 lost to a remote access scam

• NAB’s quick action recovered stolen funds within a week

• Remote access scams remain a significant threat to Australians

When NAB customer, Penny*, walked into her local NAB branch, Burnie in Tassie’s northwest, she was visibly shaken. 

Penny, in her 70s, had just finished a phone call with someone she believed was from Microsoft when she received a text from NAB alerting her to suspicious activity. 
 
A conversation with NAB Banker Zach Goodwin confirmed Penny had been caught in a remoteaccess scam.

“Penny was clearly distressed when she came into the branch,” Mr Goodwin said. 

“She had received a text informing her that NAB’s Fraud team had placed a block on her account due to suspicious activity. Soon after, she noticed some transactions that didn’t make sense.”

Mr Goodwin looked into Penny’s accounts and quickly established that $15,000 had been transferred out. The next step was to connect Penny to NAB’s Fraud Team, who worked quickly to track down the stolen funds. 

“Penny told us she had clicked on what she thought was a legitimate Microsoft pop-up ad on Facebook. After calling the number on the ad, she was told her computer and mobile phone had been compromised and she needed to download some software to fix it,” he said.

“The criminals had gained access to Penny’s computer through the remote access software and moved the money out of her account. We were able to trace Penny’s money to another account and it was back in her account within a week.  
 
“Penny was ecstatic. I’m just glad we could help her get her money back.”

Australians lost $2.74 billion to scams in 2024, according to the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report. NAB’s Executive, Group Investigations Chris Sheehan said it was incredibly hard to recover funds due to the speed and sophistication organised criminals moved with. 

“Remote access scams remain a major threat. They often start with a phone call or computer pop up from someone claiming they are from a legitimate company, like Microsoft, a telco or the government agency, and there’s a problem they can help ‘fix’,” Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police executive, said.

“Red flags of these scams include urgency, unexpected contact, requests to access your device, or pressure to move money to a ‘safe account’. 

 “If you’re unsure, look up the number of the organisation online and call them to check.”

Penny was one of the lucky ones, Mr Sheehan said.

 “Often criminals have transferred the money overseas or moved it into crypto and it’s extremely difficult to recover,” Mr Sheehan said. “In this case the money was still in Australia and our Fraud team was able to trace it and return it to Penny.”

Visit NAB’s Security Hub to learn more about recognising scam red flags and protecting yourself.