A diligent teenager who worked three jobs to save for her dream home has lost her whole life savings to a cunning phone scam.
Since getting her first job four years ago on the south coast of Western Australia, 18-year-old Aurora Casilli has saved every dime imaginable.
Early in December, however, she received a text message alerting her that someone was attempting to access her bank account, undoing all of her hard work.
The text message displayed in the same chat as prior valid communications and seemed to originate from her National Australia Bank.
After transferring funds from a NAB account to a Commonwealth Bank account, Ms. Casilli discovered she had been victimized.
The alarming practice is known as “spoofing,” and it is employed by fraudsters who alter their caller ID number to make it appear as though they are legitimate businesses.
Ms. Casilli, fearing she might lose her savings, dialed the toll-free number provided in the text.
I wouldn’t have believed it if it had come from a random mobile number. However, everything appeared so real, she told news.com.au.
Ms. Casilli stated that she was placed on wait for an hour before she was eventually able to reach the number, which added to the apparent legitimacy of the fraud.
The fraudster pretended to be a NAB employee and informed Ms. Casilli that her account had been accessed by an unknown individual. He then instructed her to transfer her funds to a new account he had made for her.
The 18-year-old absolutely believed the man and transferred her whole life savings of $36,561 to the new account.
After hanging up, she saw that her funds had been transferred to a Commonwealth bank account.
She stated, “I felt ill and had a gut feeling that something was terribly wrong.”
She attempted to phone the number again, but the ‘NAB employee’ abruptly hung up when he realized Ms. Casilli had figured out his hoax.
Now, Ms. Casilli want to share her experience so that others might avoid the anguish of having their life savings taken.
While my friends were going out and purchasing attractive items such as clothing and makeup, I was saving. She stated, “I was saving for my future.”
“I have nothing now. I have to start from scratch.
Both NAB and Commonwealth Bank informed Ms. Casilli that they cannot retrieve her funds because she initiated the transfer.
NAB has warned customers to contact the bank’s official phone number if they receive a phone call request, even if the number appears to be a reputable one.
»Aurora Casilli lost her savings in a National Australia Bank scam«