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Scams, whose fault?

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www.abc.net.au

'You've destroyed me': A 'pig butchering' scam drained a 26-year-old Australian of $46,000

Anne and a man she had met online messaged every day for weeks. Their chat history shows how scammers emotionally and psychologically manipulated her — and stole $46,000.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

Anne* was looking for a genuine romantic connection when she stumbled across Lucio's profile on the dating platform Tinder.

After days of exchanging hundreds of messages back and forth about their interests and hobbies, the first mention of cryptocurrency came into the picture.

A mistake the 26-year-old Melbourne woman says was of her own doing, but she didn't know it at the time.

Within a week, Lucio convinced her to start trading cryptocurrency as he was aware it was an area she showed interest in.

One month later, she'd been scammed out of $46,100.

Now, Anne believes Lucio was a persona created by a criminal syndicate and his messages were straight out of a script expertly designed to manipulate.

This is the anatomy of a scam known as "pig butchering" that is being used to prey on vulnerable Australians.
 
Its a societal problem.
people refuse to be responsible for their own actions.
You cannot legislate against stupidity.
And it seems that males in the 65 and over bracket are more likely to fall for scams.
Mick
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Com bank sent me a message asking for me to check a credit card transaction... payment to Lagos, Nigeria.

Had a look had another two all pending, filed dispute, card cancelled total refunded ($19 fee for each refund) no idea how they got my details.
 
IFocus said:
Com bank sent me a message asking for me to check a credit card transaction... payment to Lagos, Nigeria.

Had a look had another two all pending, filed dispute, card cancelled total refunded ($19 fee for each refund) no idea how they got my details.
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@IFocus What the......
 
Dona Ferentes said:
that's the bit I don't understand
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Makes two of us but $19 for each transaction refund note the bank never actually parted with the money as payment was held as pending my response.

Just the Com bank fees stuff remember the US banks coming to Australia to see how the banks here were so profitable, If I remember correctly most fees were illegal in the US.

Went though all my transactions over the previous days and for the life of me cannot see how they got my details, wondering if my card got skimmed some how?
 
IFocus said:
Makes two of us but $19 for each transaction refund note the bank never actually parted with the money as payment was held as pending my response.

Just the Com bank fees stuff remember the US banks coming to Australia to see how the banks here were so profitable, If I remember correctly most fees were illegal in the US.

Went though all my transactions over the previous days and for the life of me cannot see how they got my details, wondering if my card got skimmed some how?
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@IFocus Only logical to think that your card was skimmed.
When i was injured 4.5 years ago, I was waiting at the pharmacy at Midland Hospital and had mine skimmed there.
Fortunately, the Bank was quick off the mark and we lost nothing, also no fees or such like.
At that stage our bank was not one of the big Four.
 
IFocus said:
Makes two of us but $19 for each transaction refund note the bank never actually parted with the money as payment was held as pending my response.

Just the Com bank fees stuff remember the US banks coming to Australia to see how the banks here were so profitable, If I remember correctly most fees were illegal in the US.

Went though all my transactions over the previous days and for the life of me cannot see how they got my details, wondering if my card got skimmed some how?
Click to expand...

I had a transaction on a debit card which wasn't made by me. I had only used the card once for an on-line purchase (Amazon around three months before the unauthorised transaction). I blocked the card and when I had a chat to the fraud area of the bank, I was told it could be from any source; compromised EFTPOS terminal, Amazon hack (despite me removing the payment method, Amazon still retains the information. And they never announce those hacks nor does Google Store). It's simply a fact of digital life now, sadly.

The suggestion I was provided by the bank was to monitor accounts on a regular basis. I have bank apps on my phone to do that although I don't use the apps to do banking, transfer or any other transactions. Most of my bills are via direct debit anyway and I only have need for debit cards for general stuff like groceries. And I generally limit the level of funds on the cards at any one time.

Banks are getting twitchy and on the odd occasion I have received a text advising a transaction had been made and to respond with either 1 it was me or 2 it wasn't me. I phoned using the number on the reverse of the debit card rather than text back and the transaction was authorised. And as I have posted previously, I have had an account blocked when I made a valid transaction but the systems considered it suspicious.

Despite views to the contrary, financial institutions do spend a lot of resources on attempting to preventing scams and the like. However, nothing is perfect and never will be. As consumers we need to up our game to protect ourselves but that takes continual effort. Some will but a lot wont and then try to shift the blame to the banks. It's been that way in the past and I don't see that changing any time soon if ever.
 
Just remembered it's December. Holiday season and lots of on-line buying. Expect an increase in texts or emails asking to confirm your shipping details, postage wasn't sufficient or cannot confirm your address.

Best way I think to protect yourself is to assume all contacts, even if they look legit, are attempts at scamming you. I've had five such emails this morning. And three texts. They are part of our life now.
 
Bellcose said:
Just remembered it's December. Holiday season and lots of on-line buying. Expect an increase in texts or emails asking to confirm your shipping details, postage wasn't sufficient or cannot confirm your address.

Best way I think to protect yourself is to assume all contacts, even if they look legit, are attempts at scamming you. I've had five such emails this morning. And three texts. They are part of our life now.
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Yep, just deleted 3 more myself :mad:

Never used to get them when we did business face to face, no card scams either when we paid in cash.

A few rubber cheques around though☹️
 
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