In our embrace of online shopping, we have become prime targets for scammers. And when bank accounts are emptied, Australians have to jump through hoops to get their money back, if at all, writes James Fitzgerald Sice.
Mike Daws was finally able to visit his mother-in-law for her 101st birthday in the US in May 2022 after two years of Covid border restrictions, only for the trip to be ruined by an online scam that almost cost him $8000.
Mike’s payment details had been saved when he bought a $189 fridge online from Kogan – one of Australia’s largest online retailers. This meant that the scammers could access his credit card information when they hacked into his email address through an unprotected computer. After that the floodgates were open, and they stole $8192.95 from Mike by transferring his money to several separate Kogan gift cards.
But surely there was been some sort of protection in place? Well, yes and no. Two-factor authentication was in place during these transactions, but where was the confirmation sent to? The same email address that the scammers could access.
So taking the reasonable steps to prevent anything else from being stolen, Mike called his bank, Westpac, to cancel the card and dispute the charges. Approximately four excruciating hours later he was able to cancel his credit card. However, he would have to wait 45 days to hear back from Westpac about getting his money back.
Hard luck mate, it’s your loss
“Kogan…
