How a hopeful homeowner lost $50,000 after just one phone call from HSBC scam ... trends now
A young woman was left devasatated after she lost $50,000 she had been saving for a deposit on a new home in a banking scam.
Melbourne woman Julie Khoo answered a call at work she believed was from HSBC in October 2023.
Minutes later two transactions drained a total of $50,000 from her account.
Ms Khoo has been a loyal HSBC customer for over 10 years and the heartbreaking scam came shortly after the death of her father just three months earlier.
In October 2023 Julie Khoo answered a call at work she believed was from the HSBC fraud department
Two transactions drained a total of $50,000, her daily transfer limit from her account
She said the 'well-spoken' caller claimed he was from HSBC's fraud team and was alerting her of suspicious activity on her account.
The con-artist on the other side of the phone spent 30 minutes convincing her the call was legitimate, providing details only her bank would know.
Ms Khoo was asked for her passcode to prevent a fraudulent transaction, with the caller stressing they needed the information 'right now'.
Her daily transfer limit of $50,000 was then stolen from her account.
Ms Khoo realised something was wrong when the caller asked for her credit card details.
She contacted HSBC hoping they would stop the transactions and provide her with some guidance.
'I knew that the money left my account but I didn't know it was gone,' Ms Khoo told 7News.
'I truly believed that they could claw back the funds.'
'They told me they would look into it, to go into the branch the next day, and to report to the police.'
Ms Khoo said she was told by the bank's branch
