"Too good to be true": Bank teller saves couple from losing $40k
A Tasmanian couple have been saved from losing $40k into an online investment scam after a bank teller noticed the red flags.
The couple visited the NAB branch in Rosny, Hobart after their account was blocked during an attempt to transfer the money to an ‘online investment firm’ in Perth.
The payment was the first of two instalments that they were set to pay the "firm" but NAB Customer Advisor Erin Bugg saved them from a massive loss.
Bugg became suspicious of the firm after they promised a 12 per cent return on their term deposit and a guaranteed pay out if the firm went bust.
“If there was a scam red flags bingo card, ‘online investment opportunity’ would be top of the list,” the NAB Customer Advisor said.
“Immediately, alarm bells went off for me. It sounded like an investment scam and I was concerned this couple could lose their life savings.”
The couple, however, insisted that they weren't being scammed so Bugg decided to look into the matter further and found a website and article about the firm.
When she looked into the rates they offered she realised it “was literally too good to be true."
“No one likes to be told they’re being lied to, especially when they feel like they’ve done all the right things. They had done their own research, and even spoken to the company on the phone,” she said.
She added that "alarm bells" started ringing when the wife explained that a man from the firm kept calling her to thank her for the investment and encourage her to open an account.
The couple then rang the "firm" in front of Bugg to try and convince her it was real.
“I declined to speak to the ‘firm’, but I could hear them telling the customers, ‘Oh, NAB always flags us as a scam’,’” she recalled.
NAB’s fraud team then informed them that the firm had a bank account at another bank, and to call the bank to confirm whether it was legit.
After calling the other bank, they found that the account was not connected to the investment firm and suggested them to not transfer anything.
“It was such a relief to hear from the customer that they’d avoided being scammed,” Bugg said.
This comes after Scamwatch received over 7,000 reports of investment scams collectively costing Aussies over $275 million in the last year.
Image: NAB