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A Perth family on a single income is grappling to pay bills after being robbed of $32,000 in what has been described as a sophisticated phone scam.
The parents were conned with fake bank calls and messages before their account was raided with 22 separate transactions occurring in just hours.
Mother-of-three Denise* answered a phone call with no ID on Monday afternoon and was told there had been a fraudulent transaction in New Zealand on her husband's account.
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Her husband then received a call while being bombarded with text messages, providing codes which he then handed over believing they were from Westpac.
That resulted in 22 cash withdrawals in the United Kingdom.
The couple was scammed a total of $32,000 in just hours.
"They were able to give him his date of birth and all of his details, sort of establishing their credibility and gaining his trust," Denise said.
While her husband was on the phone to the conmen, Denise even called Westpac to check what they were being told was true.
"I just want to know if this is legit or not," she said.
"The woman I spoke to said I can see your accounts have been frozen, so yes, it all looks above board."
At one point, the scammers seemed to mistakenly leave a voicemail during which they were on hold to Westpac and suspected to be making the fraudulent transactions.
"I had him for too long bro," the voicemail said.
Denise said Westpac's response was not good enough and she was told it would take 45 business days for the bank to look into.
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"The bank manager got very sarcastic and said 'look, it takes as long as it takes', and that was a kick in the teeth," she said.
One staffer told Denise it is one of the worst scams she had seen.
"In her 16 years, she's never dealt with fraud on this level," Denise said.
"What the consumers need to do is practise the pause," Owen Kelly from Consumer Protection Western Australia said.
"Stop, take a deep breath and think about what's happening here and what you're being asked to do."
In a statement, Westpac said it was investigating and it took the protection of customers' data very seriously, investing significantly in scam prevention to stop more than 60 per cent of cases.
"You need to give a little, you can't be this cold," Denise.
"You're dealing with human beings, you're dealing with children, you're dealing with a family.
"I explained to the kids that your money is safer in a bank than in a piggy bank at home.
"Every cent of that is now gone."
*Real name withheld for privacy
