When Patricia spoke to her daughter over the phone on a Saturday morning, everything had seemed normal.
They had a long video call over the course of breakfast and said their goodbyes.
But when she got a text from a mystery number a short while later, things had gone wrong.
Patricia’s daughter had dropped her phone in the toilet and had lost access to all her banking details.
And she needed money urgently to pay a bill by midday.
Patricia’s daughter was not sending these messages. They were being sent by a scammer.
Patricia said the messages referenced personal details like house renovations and how stressed her daughter had been, making them more believable.
“It was almost as though someone had heard our conversation on WhatsApp because of the things she said after that,” Patricia said.
The scammer asked Patricia and John to pay an invoice for a new kitchen, promising to pay back the money by 9pm.
Under the pretence of renovation payments, the Perth couple initially sent through $12,899.99 to an account with a major bank branch in Perth’s CBD.
The scammer received the payment, sending love hearts and thankful emojis.
Two minutes later, they were asking for more money.
John raised his daily payment limit in order to send more money, flagging fraud concerns with his bank.
A second…
