A quick-thinking bank team saved a widow from losing $50,000 by stepping in just in time to stop a scammer trying to trick her.
The 84-year-old widow, who is named as Stella, walked into her local NAB branch in East Maitland, New South Wales, in late February while on the phone.
She appeared visibly nervous and asked staff to raise her daily transfer limit from $5,000 to $50,000, claiming she needed to send money to her son.
Hunter Valley customer advisor Tiffany Bailey said she immediately became suspicious when the person on the phon hung up as soon as she spoke.
‘Alarm bells started ringing for me straight away,’ she said on Wednesday, adding that she knew something wasn’t right.
Ms Bailey searched the phone number and the results suggested 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,’ she said.
‘Stella burst into tears, telling us she was being threatened by a man claiming to be from a major tech company.’
NAB employees Tiffany Bailey (left) and Vanessa Kruger (right) stepped in at the last minute when a widow on the phone to an alleged scammer requested to change her banking limit
‘He’d been pressuring her for days into making a $50,000 transfer to settle an outstanding debt,’ Ms Bailey said.
The NAB advisor said Stella’s adult son, who was waiting at the front of the branch, had no idea she was being scammed.
The bank also said the alleged criminal had remote access to the widow’s computer and created images that convinced her she owed money to the scammer.
Branch manager Vanessa Kruger said the unknown perpetrator had coached Stella on what to say to bank staff.
When the unknown man started calling Stella again, Branch manager Vanessa Kruger answered the phone.
The widow said she was harrassed by a man claiming she owed $50,000 in debt (stock image)
‘I told him that we were from NAB and we were on to him,’ she 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.’
No money was taken and NAB put a temporary block on Stella’s accounts.
The bank’s fraud operations team also told Stella her computer should be cleaned.
Consumer watchdog ACCC has issued a warning to Australians after the incident to be aware of schemes.
‘A remote access scam will begin with a contact out of the blue from someone who sounds pretty professional, telling you that there’s something wrong with one of your accounts,’ deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.
‘They are going to ask you to download software that will enable them to take control of your computer.’
