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Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #60
A guy I work with has an upcoming 100k tax bill he will have to pay for capital gains.
He has already received a fake ATO invoice for it. How the hell does that happen?
You would have to think his accountant has been hacked but who knows?
I had a friend who was stitched up by his accountant, an accountant who turned out to be in partnership with the crooks handing out critical intelligence for a spotters fee.

There is very little you can do about this, because the accountant already has all the information they need to stitch you up, and if they turn bad you're stuffed.

Not saying that is the case for you friend, but it happens.

It also happens because anybody can be under the influence of crooks, because of debt, drug addiction, blackmail of all sorts of forms of influence and dependency. One that is more common than people realise is accountants or bureaucrats who have family in a foreign country who are threatened by organised crime.
The Force Awakens!

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #61
It depends on what you want to discuss with someone like the ATO.
If it’s a BAS/ABN/tech type enquiry you can usually talk to someone.
Try calling to reschedule a BAS payment… you can’t because it’s a totally automated system.
Try picking up the phone and even finding a number to call about immigration visas, good luck on that, let alone being answered.
Thats a different discussion, and you are deflecting now.  Moral of my story is that you can call up and verify information and not get too many delays which was the entire point. 

Quote
As mentioned earlier, the banks red flags should have gone up given the types and frequency of the transactions, Weiters forked up but the bank failed him and others EVERY DAY.

The banks are there to put some security and structure around money management. 

Should they do more is a seperate discussion, but IMHO they don't have to.  This isn't on them really.  They held the money and executed a transaction they were asked to by their customer. 

This mentality of people need to be protected from themselves is my biggest issue with this.  Why didn't someone stop me from transferring money out of my own account, to someone else?  How is a bank to know that a person is not just conducting regular business, moving institutions, and ever proactively contacted someone from one of these entities?  Its not fun. 
"everything you know is wrong"

Paul Hewson

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #62
Thats a different discussion, and you are deflecting now.  Moral of my story is that you can call up and verify information and not get too many delays which was the entire point. 

I recently spoke to someone at the ATO and it only took two phone calls over two days.  However, the ATO actively discourages telephone inquiries and pushes you to online correspondence.  The ATO owes me $40 and it’s really not worth my time to pursue it.  The same with my ABN, I don’t really need it and it wasn’t worth the effort to stop the process.  The crux of the matter is that the ATO relied on an anonymous text message rather than a formal letter to my business address.

The scammers who ripped Weiters off timed it perfectly and used different forms of communication to simulate bank processes.  It is a very common and quite successful scam and I heard a caller to the ABC describe how she was nearly snared by the same trap.  She is an accountant but was taken in by official-looking correspondence and “verification” phone calls.  When she realised that it was a scam and didn’t transfer funds, she copped an earful of abuse from the scammer 🙄
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”  Oddball

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #63
The Feds monitor all transactions over 10k...its mainly to cover money laundering, drug proceeds etc but everything goes across their computer screens. The banks do have procedures for this amount which makes me think Weitering was probably asked for amounts just under this figure which of course is a warning sign if you do your homework.
https://www.hsbc.com.au/content/dam/hsbc/au/docs/pdf/aba-fact-sheet.pdf

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #64


When she realised that it was a scam and didn’t transfer funds, she copped an earful of abuse from the scammer 🙄
Copped an earful did she?  At that point, I would give them my address and invite them to come meet my friends Pietro Beretta and John Moses Browning.
2017-16th
2018-Wooden Spoon
2019-16th
2020-dare to dream? 11th is better than last I suppose
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time


Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #66
Copped an earful did she?  At that point, I would give them my address and invite them to come meet my friends Pietro Beretta and John Moses Browning.

I had a scammer call me back to give me another serve.  I remember my son was quite shocked when he heard me tell the fecker how  he should get acquainted with a camel.
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”  Oddball


Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #68
I recently spoke to someone at the ATO and it only took two phone calls over two days.  However, the ATO actively discourages telephone inquiries and pushes you to online correspondence.  The ATO owes me $40 and it’s really not worth my time to pursue it.  The same with my ABN, I don’t really need it and it wasn’t worth the effort to stop the process.  The crux of the matter is that the ATO relied on an anonymous text message rather than a formal letter to my business address.

The scammers who ripped Weiters off timed it perfectly and used different forms of communication to simulate bank processes.  It is a very common and quite successful scam and I heard a caller to the ABC describe how she was nearly snared by the same trap.  She is an accountant but was taken in by official-looking correspondence and “verification” phone calls.  When she realised that it was a scam and didn’t transfer funds, she copped an earful of abuse from the scammer 🙄

Djc that's not the point.  You can call them 7 times in 7 days the point is if you called to fact check a hacker you would get a different experience and this is the appropriate action when you need to verify if you are being hacked.

"everything you know is wrong"

Paul Hewson

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #69
The antihackers at one stage were putting some of these low life scammer's names, addresses, pictures etc on youtube but they were forced to take them down. Apparently they have rights.
Yep its sad you cant expose these scumbags directly but I guess Google who own Youtube dont want legal problems and want to cover their Ar$e. I believe the Payback Scammer crew report everything to the Feds in the USA who contact their opposite numbers in other countries ie India etc to deal with the scammers. Of Course Russian and Chinese scammers are a lot harder to bring to justice, I believe there is a Russian Payback scammer group who also put Video's on Youtube and try and expose Russian scammers.

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #70
Djc that's not the point.  You can call them 7 times in 7 days the point is if you called to fact check a hacker you would get a different experience and this is the appropriate action when you need to verify if you are being hacked.

That's incorrect Thry.  The ATO doesn't have a scammer hotline and neither do the banks.  You can forward dodgy emails or SMSs and you get an automated response. 

My original post was about an SMS the ATO sent me.  It was legitimate but the only way I could have checked was to wait in a queue or use their online communication app.

Weitering's bank advises customers that they will contact you in the event of suspicious activity.  That didn't happen and the scam was sophisticated enough to convince a pretty savvy bloke that it was genuine.  It was also timed to coincide with the end of business hours making it even harder to check.
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”  Oddball

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #71

Weitering's bank advises customers that they will contact you in the event of suspicious activity.  That didn't happen and the scam was sophisticated enough to convince a pretty savvy bloke that it was genuine.  It was also timed to coincide with the end of business hours making it even harder to check.
That did happen though DJ in Weiters mind at least. The crims pretending to be NAB contacted him by latching onto genuine NAB text he already had on his phone.
2017-16th
2018-Wooden Spoon
2019-16th
2020-dare to dream? 11th is better than last I suppose
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #72
No matter how sophisticated the scam was, I would like to think if my bank told me to move money out of one of their accounts as it wasn't safe the alarm bells would be ringing. Maybe a move for an offer of better interest rates or loan adjustments etc but to tell me to drip feed, to the daily max, my money into another account seems very suss.
Seems unlikely that a bank would say their accounts are not safe. What,  left the safe unlocked...
And in the extreme there was a banking issue like a high level hack, the press would be all over it and moving it around, again on a daily basis, seems odd.
Really feel for the guy, and all victims,  but he must be feeling a bit silly, largely because he was.

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #73
The sophistication is strong on these scams - I think the bank in Weiters case does bear some responsibility as it is their SMSs that have been latched onto/hacekd/phised whatever it is.  Never a more important time to be vigilant.

While there are many operations, many scammers use trafficked people and or bonded labour - ie recruiters promise a bettter world of a job, which means that money can be sent back home to support their family.  What they don't disclose that once 'employed' the labourers' passports are confiscated, pay is low and they can't escape.  Many disappear if they put up a fuss.

The syndicates have a win win - exploit the poor and the wealthy all at once!

 

Re: Weiters scammed

Reply #74
That's incorrect Thry.  The ATO doesn't have a scammer hotline and neither do the banks.  You can forward dodgy emails or SMSs and you get an automated response. 

My original post was about an SMS the ATO sent me.  It was legitimate but the only way I could have checked was to wait in a queue or use their online communication app.

Weitering's bank advises customers that they will contact you in the event of suspicious activity.  That didn't happen and the scam was sophisticated enough to convince a pretty savvy bloke that it was genuine.  It was also timed to coincide with the end of business hours making it even harder to check.
No its not incorrect.

The appropriate action if you think you are being scammed is to reach out to the government entity and get a fact check on the claim. 

https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/contact-us/

https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/identity-security-and-scams/Verify-or-report-a-scam/

Quote
We will sometimes contact you by phone, email, SMS and post. If you're not sure whether it's really us, do not reply. You should phone us on 1800 008 540 to check.

THIS is the appropriate action if you are suspicious of any correspondence from the ATO.

Might take a while to get through.  I've only called it once, and waited the average 20 mins to get through to someone when needed. 


Ill let you guys decide who's incorrect or not.  I'll leave this be now.  There are ways for folk to protect themselves if they are willing to try.  If not, then you run the gauntlet of working out how or what correspondance to trust, but be warned, if you are in a situation where you cannot give something the appropriate attention, there are various ways to check and prove what is saying is correct without having to do anything, but if you want to check and triple check if you are being scammed the official entities contacting you will have a method for you to do so.
"everything you know is wrong"

Paul Hewson