A bank worker in Western Australia stopped a sophisticated property scam from redirecting a $1.2 million payment amid rising email fraud tactics targeting the property sector, highlighting the importance of cautious verification during settlement processes.
A Westpac banker in Western Australia stopped a $1.2 million payment from being sent to a sophisticated property scam after spotting that one small detail in an email did not look right, according to Westpac. The customer, a young mother buying her first home, had gone to the Riverton branch to make the transfer ahead of settlement when personal banker Neet Kukreja became uneasy about the urgency of the request and checked the message more closely.
Kukreja said the email did not sound like earlier correspondence and that the payment request also did not match the normal process for a settlement. Speaking to Smart Property Investment, she said, “The tone [of this email] was slightly different. It didn’t read like the previous emails, and that made me pause,” adding that the request to transfer funds into a settlement account raised further concerns. A closer look showed the sender’s address contained one extra letter, while the staff member named in the message was later found to be on leave.
Westpac said Kukreja then contacted the customer, the branch manager and the settlement agent, who confirmed that no formal payment request had been made. The bank said the fraudster had gained access to the agent’s email account and used it to send convincing but fake instructions designed to push the buyer into transferring the money quickly. Kukreja said knowing the customer and her circumstances helped her trust her instincts, telling Smart Property Investment that losing the funds would have been devastating because it represented her savings and loan.
Westpac says property-related scams are becoming more polished and are often timed to hit during contract exchanges and settlement periods, when buyers are under pressure and large sums are moving fast. Ben Young, Westpac’s head of fraud prevention, said a quick phone call can prevent life-changing losses. The warning comes as Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre reported $166.8 million in losses to payment redirection scams last year, while the Australian Cyber Security Centre has separately warned that property-linked business email compromise scams are rising as criminals target conveyancers, agents and buyers through hacked accounts and altered bank details.
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