The online partner who turned a bank account into a money tunnel.
A woman in her fifties, recently widowed, met a man on a dating app who said he was a marine engineer working offshore. They spoke every day for four months.
Read this case →Describe what’s happening — the messages, the deposit, the request to pass it on. We name the pattern it matches, rate the risk, and tell you exactly who to call in Australia tonight. Free, anonymous, and no substitute for your bank’s fraud line.
Ring your bank on the number printed on the back of your own card before you read anything else here. Transfers can sometimes be stopped in the first hours and almost never after that. If you are in danger, ring 000. Free, independent help with the aftermath: IDCARE 1800 595 160.
Different pitches, one mechanism: your account receives money that isn’t yours, and you are asked to move it on.
You keep a small cut. The bank keeps the whole record. When police read that record, the name on it is yours.
See what this means for you →Romance scamsMonths of messages, then one small favour: receive this money, and send it on. The romance was the recruitment.
See what this means for you →Remote-access “refund” scamsThe extra money on your screen came from another victim — or from your own savings, moved between your own accounts while you watched.
See what this means for you →“Quick cash” job scamsNo interview, no ABN, no office — just your bank details and $500 a week to “process payments” from home.
See what this means for you →Student scamsInternational students are targeted hardest, because a visa condition makes the threat of “trouble with the authorities” do all the work.
See what this means for you →Diaspora-targeted scamsFake embassy fines, fake immigration officers, fake remittance agents — the trust of a shared community, used as a tool.
See what this means for you →A woman in her fifties, recently widowed, met a man on a dating app who said he was a marine engineer working offshore. They spoke every day for four months.
Read this case →Current warnings issued by the National Anti-Scam Centre, including the impersonation and job-offer campaigns running in Australia right now.
More national coverage →