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The trend shows that younger Aussies are being robbed more than older ones due to banking scams, leaving them nothing for their life savings.
ABC News first reported that bank scammers are targeting younger generations. Aurora Casilli, a victim of a cyber scam, is an 18-year-old teenager who moved to Albany from Italy at 14. Since then, Casili said she burned all her midnight candles and gave off all her energy to work after school and even on weekends.
Because of that, the diligent teenager has saved a reasonable amount for herself. She allocated the money supposedly for her own home and her education. Yet, little did she know that all her dreams would be crushed down to the ground with just a single text.
The SMS seemed credible as it entered the thread of National Australia Bank messages from before. The text then instructed her to call an 1800 contact number for someone to receive a payment authorised by her.
This method used by cyber attackers is called spoofing. It infiltrates message threads to pretend they are from a legit source or persona.
“When I finally got to someone, they were like, ‘Can you please verify your name, date of birth, and address … someone is trying to get into your account’,” she said.
Ms Casili not only took the blame for losing $36,000. She said NAB did not have a holding period before transferring substantial money to a new account as other banks do.
Chris Sheehan, a former fraud officer with the Australian Federal Police and executive for group investigations and fraud at NAB, claimed the authorities were still lagging behind online crooks.
“They are transnational organised crime groups; they’re incredibly well-resourced,” Mr Sheehan said.
“They are incredibly robust, they’re ruthless, they’re the same groups that are trafficking drugs and firearms and human beings around the world.
“And they will continue to find new ways to exploit systems to generate profit, which is their entire business model.”
Consumer Protection West Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety West Australian branch emphasised that 25 to 34-year-old Australians are more likely to lose their life savings than older citizens.
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