Hardest scam to spot nearly costs homebuyer $1.2 million

Hannah Stenning
08:00am November 27 2024

Westpac private wealth banker Diane Zhou. (Supplied)

Peter Smith* was about to settle on a property purchase so was not surprised when he received an email from his regular conveyancer asking him to transfer $1.2 million into their bank account. He didn’t think to double-check the bank details. 

Fortunately, Westpac Private Wealth Banker Diane Zhou did. 

After learning about the transaction from Peter, she called the conveyancer herself. What she discovered saved him from losing over a million dollars.

“When I spoke with the conveyancer, I was shocked to learn that she had never sent the client an email with payment instructions, and the bank account details provided in the email were not hers,” Zhou says.

“I was then even more shocked that she was aware several fraudulent emails had been circulating, impersonating her office – indicating her emails were compromised.”

Payment redirection scams, also known as business email compromise, are the hardest scams to spot, says Ben Young, Westpac’s Head of Fraud Prevention. They occur when scammers intercept the emails of a business and replace the BSB and account number on invoices with their own. 

“There might be nothing in the email or invoice to alert you that this is a scam and it's usually a bill that you expected to pay,” Young says. “Victims can lose millions in a single transaction.” 

Westpac data shows while payment redirection scams are the fifth most common type of scam, they accounted for the second highest losses by dollar amount over the past year, with victims losing $27,500 on average. 

“Businesses and individuals are equally at risk of falling victim to payment redirection scams – it really can happen to anyone,” says Young.

Westpac has seen a 20 per cent reduction in payment redirection scams over the past year and prevents over 400 mistaken payments a day thanks to Westpac Verify, which was launched in June 2024. 

Westpac Verify enables individuals and businesses to run a check on payee details before initiating payments, alerting them to potential account number and name mismatches. 

However, you can never be too careful. 

“Our advice is to always verify any banking information verbally over the phone when you receive requests for new, urgent or redirected payments, and ensure you verify through a phone number you have sourced yourself,” says Young. 

“You can also request to pay your suppliers using a PayID. PayIDs display the registered payee name, so if it's not your intended recipient, you will know.”

Westpac has launched an awareness campaign to bring attention to payment redirection scams and prevent further losses. Business owners are invited to join a scams webinar hosted by Westpac’s Head of Fraud Prevention, Ben Young, on December 4. Interested businesses can register via the Westpac website. 

For more info on business email compromise scams, check out Ben’s Scam Spot video:

SCAM SPOT: Has your biller been hacked? 

* Name has been changed for privacy. 

Hannah Stenning

Hannah is a Walkley Award winning journalist who started her career in television as a producer for The Today Show and 60 Minutes, before moving to digital as Commissioning Editor of news.com.au and then Head of Video for News Corp Australia. She is now a Corporate Affairs Lead for Westpac.

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