Laura* thought she was transferring nearly $5,000 at the request of a NAB banker. If the transaction had gone through, she could have lost her life savings of more than $100,000.

Across the country, sophisticated criminals are impersonating well-known brands in a bid to rip off hard-working Australians.

Criminals, who claimed to be from NAB, contacted Laura by phone. They said Laura’s account was compromised, and they wanted to help her secure it.

As Laura started making transfers, NAB’s Fraud system triggered an alert on the transactions as the payment had red flags, including signs her laptop was being remotely accessed.

Within minutes, NAB’s Fraud Assist Analyst Jimmy Nguyen was on the phone to Laura as he suspected this was a remote access scam.

“We use biometrics technology as part of our fraud system and the first red flag for us was an alert telling us her screen was either being shared with someone or accessed remotely,” Jimmy said.

“The criminals had convinced Laura to download software, which allowed them to access her device remotely.  They told her she needed the application so that they could walk her through how to make a payment to secure her account. But, once they were in her device, they were spying on her activity.

“It’s really concerning when this happens. Your banking activity and logins are for your eyes only.”

Spotting the scam red flags

Jimmy’s training and experience told him something wasn’t right.

“On the phone I went through our checklist to learn more about the transaction. Within minutes, I knew something was up,” Jimmy said.

At first, Laura’s story kept changing. Then she repeated that it was a private and confidential matter at the request of a NAB banker. It sounded like she had been coached to give those answers.

“I told Laura NAB would never call her and ask her to do anything that could compromise her security, like sharing a one-time PIN, transferring money to another account, giving us remote access to your devices or providing personal information.”

NAB’s Fraud team acted swiftly, temporarily blocking Laura’s account to ensure criminals couldn’t steal her money.

“There was a risk that the criminals could access Laura’s account and transfer her life savings of $120,000 to their account,” Jimmy said.

A week later, Laura called NAB’s Fraud team back.

“Once Laura had time to process what we’d spoken about the penny dropped and she realised she was being scammed.  She called our team back to report the incident,” Jimmy said.

“She was grateful we helped secure the account so the criminals couldn’t access it.”

Protecting customers

NAB Executive, Group Investigations Chris Sheehan said Laura’s story highlighted the combination of technology investments and dedicated bankers working together to keep customers safe.

“NAB continues to invest in scam prevention and detection to keep customers safe,” Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police executive, said.

“We’re starting to see some positive signs from this work with customer losses down 17% between October 2023 and March 2024, compared to the previous six months.

“Initiatives to detect scams include behavioral biometric technology as part of our fraud engine, which can help us see and hold payments in real time and payment alerts in the NAB App and Internet Banking.

“We also have more than 500 experts in our fraud, scams and investigations teams working on the problem and supporting our customers day and night. “

Mr Sheehan said criminals were masters at manipulating people’s emotions and creating a sense of fear or urgency.

“Their goal is to pressure the person to act quickly and shareie personal details or make a payment themselves. That’s why it’s so important to be vigilant,” he said.

“Just like Jimmy advised Laura, if you aren’t sure if it’s  NAB calling you, hang up and call back yourself using the number on the back of your bank card or via searching it on our public website.”

NAB tackles scams and fraud

NAB has a  bank-wide strategy to reduce the impact of scams and fraud. Recent actions include:

• Stopping the use of links in unexpected text messages to customers
• Introducing payments prompts to digital banking to encourage customers to pause before they pay.
• Collaborating with telecommunications providers to prevent spoofing scams.
• Using BioCatch technology in digital channels to help identify fraudulent activity.
• Placing blocks on some high-risk crypto currency platforms.
• Free monthly webinars that all Australians can attend.
• Free and discounted anti-virus software offers for customers.

*Customer name changed for privacy reasons